King's Air
by Bionic-TitanX
Summary: Monkey D. Luffy. Ex-Marine. Future Pirate King. World Government is after his head. He consumed the Kaze Kaze no mi and is now on the hunt for the One Piece. Not only that, but he is also on a mission to bring the World Government down to their knees. Dark, smarter, OP Luffy.
1. Chapter 1

It was a day like no other. The Marines were rushing out of their base getting on their battleships trying to capture someone. The person they were trying to capture was wearing a straw hat, a tattered white suit, and had black hair. He had a solemn look on his face while sailing away on a small boat. The Marine forces were trying to capture the one known as Monkey D. Luffy. Ex-Marine.

"Get the boy!" One of the Marine Vice Admirals yelled.

Cannonballs were shot at Luffy who used his abilities to force the cannonballs back at the Marines piercing through some of the ships coming at him.

"Don't take the boy lightly! This is Ex-Marine Rear Admiral Monkey D. Luffy we're facing men! His position is the equivalent of Marine Headquarters Rear Admirals!" Another Vice-Admiral yelled.

The Marines who were shooting at the Strawhat wearing boy that heard this new set of information widened their eyes to the point they could be compared to saucer plates. They were unaware of the fact that this boy they were attacking had enough strength to be of such a position. It was madness in their eyes. They thought it was excessive to have 3 Vice Admirals each leading 2 battleships only to chase after one guy in a dinghy and it was hard to believe he was of such a rank in the Marines. That was until he sunk half of the Marine ships by sending the cannonballs right back at them.

"How is he doing this?" One Marine cried out.

The last Vice-Admiral who had yet to speak grumbled before speaking up.

"The boy ate a Devil Fruit and not just any Devil Fruit either. He ate a Logia Devil Fruit. The Kaze Kaze No Mi. He's an Air Human."

The Marine higher up stared coldly at Luffy as he was drifting away. He growled in anger before requesting for reinforcements.

"The boy may be able to force cannonballs back at us but he's only human. He can't continue doing this for long."

Several more ships started appearing shooting several cannonballs. So many that it was beginning to become overwhelming for the Strawhat. Luffy grit his teeth in frustration.

"Stupid Marines." He muttered to himself.

The sea grew vicious and it was swaying his dinghy from side to side with risk of him falling over. He was hanging on for dear life while reflecting the rapid cannonball fire that was trying to sink his ship.

"Dang it. There's too many ships. I won't be able to shake them off unless…"

He could feel drops of rain hitting his face. He heard lightning and thunder. He smirked when he saw the Vice-Admirals had looks of fear on their faces when they heard the thunder.

"Oh no." One Marine said.

"Oh yes." Luffy grinned like a madman. "Kaze Kaze Cyclone!"

Luffy raised one of his arms into the sky directing it at the Marines and it formed into rotating wind before slashing it downwards. At first, it was a small rotation of wind, but it began to grow bigger and was heading towards the Marines.

"Retreat!" One of the Vice-Admirals yelled.

The Marines jumped into small rowboats trying to get away from the quickly approaching tornado that was growing immensely in size. The Marine ships were destroyed from the tornado.

Luffy watched his work and took a deep breath before sighing from exhaustion.

"I hate using that move. Always leaves me with a headache." Luffy muttered to himself.

Luffy created air currents that helped him sail. He grit his teeth in pain. He had a serious headache from creating that tornado and he had plans of sailing back to East Blue, but he wanted to see the closest person he had to a mother. Makino. He could only imagine how everything would go down at the bar. It's been too long since he's seen her. Not only that, but he would have to explain to her everything that happened with the Marines. He knew that when it came to the East Blue, they don't get the news as quickly as the other oceans. If he continued at the pace he was sailing now, he would be able to make it to the East Blue perhaps a day before the newspapers showed up at the bar.

After he explains everything that he's discovered about the Marines and the World Government in general, then he'll have to leave soon after. He knew he couldn't stay in the location for more than a couple of days because the World Government would most definitely put a bounty on his head. There would be several bounty hunters after his head and he planned to assemble a crew. What he planned on doing, he would need to assemble a strong enough crew. He planned to shake up the World Government and what better way to do that besides becoming Pirate King!

"Shishishi!" Luffy laughed quietly.

Sure, he may have had a headache, but he couldn't just rest now. It was going to be quite a while before he could make it back to Fuschia Village and he had to keep the air currents going at this fast pace unless he wanted the Marines to catch up to him. He might as well think about all the plans he'll have for when he makes it back. Sure, he'd assemble a crew, but he would need a ship first. He doubted this dinghy would fit more than two people, let alone a whole was going to probably assemble a ship himself since he doubted anyone would sell him a ship with his status. Not like he could afford to buy a whole ship in the first place. He had no money on him.

Once that was settled with, assembling his crewmates would also be a tedious task. He would need a strong, skilled swordsman in order to help fend off attacks alongside him. He would need a navigator since he was not the best at it. Sure, he had basic enough knowledge from his time in the Marines to travel from island to island, but in terms of being able to tell when there's going to be a storm and all that, he would need a far more skilled navigator than him. He'd need a cook for obvious reasons. A doctor. Also for obvious reasons. Perhaps even a shipwright who was far better with ships than him. Sure, he knew a little about everything since his time in the Marines, but he was more of a Jack of All Trades, master of none.

He needed all of these essentials before he could take on the World Government and become Pirate King. He balled his hands up into fists trying to cope with the headache he had right now. Sure, he could think still, but that's only been because of multiple times when he's had to use the Cyclone move to get rid of several enemies. Oh, he couldn't wait to give the World Government everything that's coming to them for all the atrocities they've done during their existence.

A/N: So we finally have the first chapter out. As for what's going on, you'll find out more and more over the chapters to come. I know you guys are going to be saying that Luffy is going to be overpowered in this story and all I have to say is I know. You'll see more of his overpowered state in upcoming chapters but during the East Blue saga, he's probably not going to show as much strength because of what's happened already. He has a headache and has been sailing using his air powers to get to East Blue which will take a while. As in days which means he's not going to have a wink of sleep trying to get to East Blue. You can't expect for him to honestly be at his full power during these circumstances. Besides that, you guys can give me suggestions and what you guys would like to see. If I like the idea, I may even add it in the story. Oh, and OOC Luffy. Duh! Bionic-TitanX out!


	2. Mother And Son Reunited

A/N: I changed the rating to T for now so it will attract a grester audience...for now. Eventually, the arcs will become darker which is why it will eventually change back to M, but for right now I'll leave it at T.

Today was a slow day for Makino. There wasn't that much business so she was simply cleaning the glass cups used to serve to customers. She had to keep the place looking nice if she ever wanted returning customers and new ones recommended by her older customers. She sighed. Nothing eventful happened today. She wondered how Luffy was doing all the way across the seas serving the Marines. Knowing Luffy, he would probably be fighting bad guys or eating off all the Marine food supplies quite quickly. It put a smile on her face remembering how Luffy acted while he still lived in Foosha Village. Oh, how she missed the boy. There was always this charm to him that made him a pleasure to be around.

While Makino was reflecting on the good times she had with Luffy, the doors to the bar swung open. In came several men. From the looks of it, they appeared to be mountain bandits. They seemed like the stereotypical ones too. This was going to be a pain. She put on a false smile and greeted the men.

"Hello. How may I serve you gentlemen today?" She asked politely.

"Well, my men and I are pretty thirsty. We were going to ask for 10 barrels of sake, but we may just have you instead." The lead bandit exclaimed.

The bandits had wicked smiles on their faces as they began to approach her. Makino was backing away from the men and tried to make a run for it. She was fast, but not fast enough. The lead bandit grabbed Makino by her shirt collar and yanked her towards him. He reeked of alcohol and the smell was suffocating to Makino. It was as if this man hadn't taken a bath since forever.

"Now. Now. Where do you think you're heading off to?" He questioned her mockingly.

The bandits began to group around her with plans of 'sharing' her. Of course, the leader would get firsts.

"Hey. You should be glad. After this, you may even be bearing Higuma The Bear's child for all we know." Higuma stated.

After hearing these words, Makino began to squirm even more trying to break away from Higuma's grip on her, but he began ripping at her clothes.

"HELP! HELP! ANYBODY! PLEASE HELP!" She screamed with tears in her eyes as Higuma was beginning to assert his dominance.

Right before he could though, a blast of air pressure hit him. The force behind it was so strong that it caused him to lose his grip on Makino and send Higuma flying back. The bandits were shocked seeing their leader fly back like that and looked to the entrance in order to see if anyone was there. Sure enough, there was. A man standing at 6'2 was at the entrance. He was wearing a tattered white suit and a straw hat. Not even sandals he was wearing. He was barefoot. He had an angered look on his face, but he also showed signs of being tired and malnourishment seeing as how he had bags under his eyes and his bones appeared to be very prominent on his face. They doubted this was the man who sent their captain flying. They had full confidence that it would be a piece of cake taking this guy down.

Oh how wrong they were….

None of their hits connected and instead they ended up harming each other. It was as if the man wasn't even there. A mirage like they were in the desert and they were seeing things.

"Enough of this!" The malnourished gent yelled.

He grabbed one of the men by their head and crushed it under his grip leaving a red stain on the floor and a lifeless body missing a head. The other men were shocked seeing this. Some of them even wanted to throw up after what they witnessed. He grabbed the sword of the dead man and used it against the other men slicing at their bodies. You could hear their screams of pain as their bodies were getting sliced by the man in the suit. By the time he was done, his suit was no longer white, but it was red with the blood of all the bandits.

He was breathing heavily from exhaustion. He turned to see Higuma get up and try to get to Makino who was trying to flee the scene. He wasn't having any of that today.

"Soru." He whispered.

He disappeared from his position and appeared in front of Higuma kicking him in the family jewels. The kick packed enough strength to shatter his balls. Higuma screamed in pain before glaring at the one in front of him.

"Do you know who you just messed with?" Higuma threatened.

"Yeah. A man who is no longer able to produce testosterone. A man who will now have decreased sexual drive, problems with erections, and is now infertile. That means even if you were to ever find a woman who would want you, you would no longer be able to have any offspring to continue your legacy."

"I'LL KILL YOU! You've messed with the wrong person boy! I am Higuma The Bear! I'm a wanted man worth 16 million beri!"

"News flash. I'm a wanted man as well and I've taken down men with more than quintuple that amount." He whispered.

Fear was brought to Higuma's eyes especially after seeing the carcasses of his men. Impossible.

"I'll give you two choices. You can leave this village and never return or I can kill you here right now and in the most painful way possible. Which do you choose?"

Higuma answered the question by running out of the bar as soon as he found an opening. The straw hat wearer smirked.

"Smart choice."

He looked over to Makino and unbuttoned his suit.

"Oh no." Makino said to herself thinking the worst.

He took off his straw hat leaving it on the counter and taking off the shirt he was wearing underneath the suit. It was crimson red.

"Makino. Put this on. I can't stand to look at you with your current attire. By the way, it's Luffy."

Hearing these words put a sense of relief to Makino as she gladly put on the shirt and found that it was incredibly stretchy to the point she could wear it as a sort of dress. It didn't feel wet or reek of blood either which relieved her even more.

"I'm glad you came when you did Luffy. I don't know if I could have escaped these vile men." She spoke in disgust.

She made several plates of food for Luffy knowing how he was when it came on to food. Even then, she doubted this would completely fill him up looking at the condition of his body, although he was getting better.

"So, what brings you back to Foosha Village? I figured you'd be back with the Marines on a mission or something or are you visiting?"

Luffy shook his head in response causing Makino to raise an eyebrow.

"I can't stay here long Makino. During my time with the Marines, I discovered how corrupt the World Government is. That's why I defected."

"You did what?!" Makino yelled.

Luffy was calm over the situation.

"I defected. I could no longer stand for the unjustness of the World Government so I defected from the Marines. I'm sure they've either put a bounty on my head or they are trying to keep everything under tight wraps so nobody finds out. Anybody they find out has ties to me that aren't Gramps are probably going to have Marines knocking at their doorsteps as soon as possible which is why I can't stay long. I just wanted to see you one last time Makino. You've been the closest thing I've ever had to a mother."

Luffy finished his food quickly and got up to leave.

"Oh, and before I leave."

He put on a tactical skull mask to conceal his face and handed Makino a steampunk designed pistol.

"To protect yourself from any others who would ever try to use you since I won't be around to protect you if there is ever a next time."

Luffy walked out of the bar with his straw hat on his head. He got some weird looks from some of the villagers, but they just shrugged him off as some weirdo.

He looked at his small raft. If he wanted to become a pirate, he would need a much larger ship than this. This would have to do for now though.

He went to a nearby store getting some new clothes since he didn't want to continue smelling like blood the whole journey. He was now wearing an open, white cardigan with long sleeves, black pants, and army boots that were in black and white camo. Of course, he had his straw hat on top of his head. He was still kinda hungry, but the less time he spent in Foosha Village, the better.

He was also tired, but he could rest after he began gathering his crew. Right now, there was no time to waste. He got in his dinghy and forced the wind to send him somewhere else. Hopefully a place where he could get another ship and restock on supplies.

A/N: This chapter was slightly longer than the first one, which is a good thing. As you can see, some stuff was about to go down if Luffy never made it in time to rescue Makino. Now, I know it may seem like Luffy is still incredibly strong although there are several things going against him, but that was Higuma. Come on. As for why his bounty is double that of the original, that's because it's been 10 years. You guys would question why his bounty is only 8 million beri if I left it as it was in canon. Why he was even still alive in the first place will be revealed in later chapters. If you still have questions, post them in the reviews. Bionic-TitanX out!


	3. Romance Dawn

A/N: OK. So while writing this, I am also watching One Piece. I am in the Amazon Lily arc. Not that far as you can see. That is why I would like to hear all of your ships for Luffy. No yaoi! I'm also not doing Luffy x Nami or Robin because those are obvious choices. If it's someone who is in their late 20s or early 30s, can I reduce their age? Does it matter or no? Onto the story!

"You're pathetic. Even for East Blue standards." Luffy degraded.

He had taken down a crew of pirates and quite easily too. The captain was an obese woman wearing a cowboy hat and was holding a broken mace.

"B-But how?" The captain questioned to herself.

"Come on Coby. Help me tie up this crew of wannabe pirates. I'm going to be taking over this ship although it's going to need a whole makeover. I can't stand the shape and color of it."

A small boy with pink hair and glasses appeared behind Luffy. He was whimpering at the sight of his former crew having been taken down so easily.

"How did you do that? The Alvida Pirates were the strongest people I knew and you took them all down without any effort." Coby asked.

"I ate a Devil Fruit and became a Wind Man. Not only that, but I also learned Haki."

"Haki?"

"Eh. I'll tell you more about it later. Lets just tie up these guys first."

Coby nodded and helped Luffy to tie up the crewmembers. Afterwards, Luffy fixed the sails to remove the Alvida Pirates flag and have it all ready for their departure.

"We'll be going to Shells Town next Coby. There should be a nearby Marine base there."

"Shells Town? B-But I heard that Pirate Hunter Zoro was there!"

"Huh? Oh yeah. I heard that whale of a captain talk a little about this Zoro guy. What's he all about?"

"What! You've never heard of him?! That man is a demon! We shouldn't go to Shells Town! Going there will seal our fate!"

"Oh. So Zoro must be a pretty tough guy. Shishishi! I'll make him join my crew." Luffy confidently stated.

Coby looked at Luffy is disbelief. Was this guy serious? He was going to be recruiting Pirate Hunter Zoro into his pirate crew? The mere thought of that was beyond comprehension!

"Another thing Coby."

Coby looked at Luffy for answers to all the madness that was coming out of his mouth.

"Haki is what can be described as a sort of sixth sense that goes unnoticed by many people in the world. With the right training, you could actually unlock it Coby. It takes a while to learn so I won't be able to teach you how to use it. Sorry."

Coby nodded silently.

"There are two main types of Haki. There's Observation Haki and then there's Armament Haki. You can sense and avoid enemy attacks using Observation Haki while Armament Haki is using your life force to create a physical reinforcement."

"You make it sound like there's more than two."

"There is a third one that can't be learned. It's something that you are born with. It's called Conqueror's Haki and you can overpower the willpower of your opponents with your own. That's what I did for most of your former crew. Alvida, I just used a regular punch. That fat of theirs really came in the clutch. They would've been completely unconscious if that fat of theirs didn't soften the blow."

Coby was fascinated learning all this new information.

"You'll learn more about it when you join the Navy."

"H-How do you know that?"

"I was once part of the Navy, but not anymore which reminds me."

"Hm?"

"You've seen what I look like under the mask and you know my name which is why I don't want you to mention my name at all if you want any chance of joining the Marines."

"How come Luffy?"

"I'm a wanted man. Especially with how far up in the Marines I was and my abilities."

"How far did you make it up in the Marines?"

"Meh. I've told you too much. If you rank high enough, you'll find out more about me. For now, when we make it to Romance Dawn, I'll have you on your way to the Marines and with the Alvida pirates. That'll give you a better chance of being able to join."

Once the two finally made it to Romance Dawn, Luffy quickly put on his mask.

"Come on Coby. Let's go!"

Luffy grabbed the tied up crewmembers of the Alvida pirates and had Coby help him carry them to the Marines. Well, at least to a certain distance.

"I can sense a weakening spirit. It seems to be dwindling at every moment. I wonder why." Luffy thought aloud.

He let go of his hold on the Alvida pirates and left to see what was happening over in the distance.

"H-Hey! Where are you going?"

"I'm going to check out what's happening there!" Luffy pointed to the distance.

Luffy ran towards a gated area to investigate. He climbed up in order to see what was happening with the individual. What he saw intrigued him. A man with green hair was tied up to a cross in a desert-like area. He seemed to be burning up as well.

"Hey you!"

"Hm?"

"Leave." He commanded.

Luffy laughed at his statement.

"Oh? And what are you gonna-Huh?"

A little girl climbed up a ladder and jumped down with a tray of rice balls.

"Hey Zoro. Look what I made for you!" She cheered.

"Oh. So that's Zoro." Luffy spoke to himself.

"What are you doing here kid? Scram." Zoro ordered.

Luffy frowned at this.

'A little girl made him food and he was telling her to leave? He didn't even show the slightest sign of gratitude. What a jerk.' Luffy thought.

While Luffy was thinking, a blonde, lanky man wearing a tacky suit appeared with a couple of Marine men. He seemed like a cocky man, but he also appeared to be rather was he going to do?

"Oh? What's this? Rice balls? Don't mind if I do!" The blonde man spoke.

"Hey! That's not for you!"

The blonde man didn't listen to the girl and ate one of the rice balls. As soon as he ate one, he spit it out.

"What did you put in this?!"

"I-I-I put sugar in there. I thought it would make them taste better."

"ARE YOU AN IDIOT? YOU'RE SUPPOSED TO USE SALT! SALT!"

The blonde man grabbed the tray and threw it down onto the ground. He mixed the rice balls together with the dirt and stomped on them with anger on his face.

"Hey! I worked hard on these!"

"Use salt next time! Now, Navy men! Throw this girl over the walls!"

"B-But she's only a little girl!" One of the Marines tried to reason with the man.

"Are you defying my orders? How would my daddy feel about this?"

Hearing the mention of the man's father made the Marines cower in fear. One of them grabbed the little girl and told her to crawl into a ball so it would soften her landing. Once he threw her over the gates, Luffy managed to use his Logia powers to catch her by wrapping her around in his wind and making it dense enough to hold someone in it.

"Coby. Watch the girl for me will ya?" Luffy asked.

"H-How did you realize I was right below you? I never saw you turn up until now." Coby interrogated.

"The wind." Luffy answered vaguely.

Luffy turned back and glared at the man wearing the purple suit as he left. He wanted to beat the ever living snot out of this guy, but he couldn't afford to do anything risky. Not right now that is. Once the man and the Marines left, Luffy jumped down into the desert area to better observe this Roronoa Zoro guy. He seemed strange. If the guy was a jerk, why would the girl bother wasting her time making anything for him?

"Hey."

Luffy looked at Zoro.

"While you're here, can you do me a favor and give me that rice ball?"

Luffy looked down at the ground to see one of the rice balls mushed together with dirt thanks to that other guy.

"But it's mainly dirt." Luffy stated.

"I don't care. Just feed it to me."

Luffy shrugged. Why should he come between a man and food? Luffy did as the green haired man asked and fed the onigiri to him.

"Thanks. Tell the little girl that the food was delicious."

This put a smile on Luffy's face underneath his mask. It seemed like this Zoro guy just acted tough, but was simply a big softy at heart. How nice.

"I've made up my mind Roronoa Zoro. I'll be making you part of my crew!" Luffy declared.

"Hey! You can't just say that without my consent! Besides, I don't want to join a pirate crew and I got a couple more days here. Then I'll be free."

"Well, if it's a couple of days, I suppose I could wait."

"I'm not joining your stinking pirate crew!"

"Oh? Why not?"

"I've got my own plans of becoming the World's Strongest Swordsman."

"Oh! You plan on surpassing Mihawk. Interesting. Well, considering how you're currently living in the weakest sea, that dream of yours is nothing but a pipedream. If you sail with me, then you'll be able to fight a lot of strong guys and improve your skills a whole lot more than if you stick around here in the East Blue."

"Wait! What? Weakest sea?"

"Yeah. You didn't know that you've been living in the weakest sea this whole time?"

"NO! Not at all!"

"Well. That sucks for you. Shishishi! Do you even know Haki?"

"No. What's that?"

"Wow. You don't even have a basic understanding of it and you want to surpass Mihawk. Well, I can teach you Haki once you join my crew!"

"I'm not joining your crew of pirates!"

"We'll see about that."

Luffy left after his little talk with Zoro and his declaration of making him a member of his crew. He made sure to find the little girl and tell her what Zoro thought about her food.

"Really?!" The girl squealed.

Luffy nodded.

"You know, your mask really intimidated me at first, but hearing what you've said really comforts me."

"I can imagine why, but don't worry. I won't hurt you."

They were in the girl's restaurant. It was a family business and the girl's mother owned the place. Luffy and Coby were talking to the girl around one of the tables.

"So what's with that guy in the purple suit?" Coby asked.

"Hm? Oh, you're talking about Helmeppo. That guy's a jerk. Just because his dad is a Marine Captain, he thinks he can order everyone around. Not only that, but the whole reason Zoro is even in that Marine area in the first place is because he was protecting me from Helmeppo's wolves. He brought them into the restaurant one day and had them wreak havoc across the whole place. One of the wolves even came at me, but Zoro protected me from the wolf. If it weren't for him, I may have been dead right now."

Speaking of Helmeppo, he ended up walking into the restaurant with a bored look on his face. He took a seat at one of the nearby tables and thought about what he should do next.

"Today's been a pretty uneventful day. Maybe I should just execute Roronoa Zoro today. Yeah. That's a great idea!" He cheered to himself.

Luffy heard this though and grew angry at this man's words.

"What'd you say?!" Luffy shouted.

"I'll be having Roronoa Zoro executed." Helmeppo responded albeit weakly.

"I figured that's what you said. Bastard!" Luffy yelled.

He punched Helmeppo in the face with a weak, sloppy punch. It was still strong enough to bruise him.

"Y-You hit me!" Helmeppo screamed in utter disbelief.

"You never intended on keeping your promise to Zoro, did you?"

"O-Of course not!"

This made Luffy even angrier knowing this man never intended on keeping his promise to Zoro. He hit him in the gut.

"Augghh! You hit me twice! I'm going to tell my daddy!"

"Go ahead. I don't care. Watch what'll happen."

Helmeppo ran off with his tail between his legs.

A/N: This is probably the longest chapter yet. I'm proud of myself. Anyways, another thing that I would like to ask is what would be a reasonable bounty to give to Luffy for right now. I don't want to give him too high of a bounty considering X Drake is also an ex-rear admiral and had a bounty only over 200 million beri in his introduction. I don't want to give Luffy too small of a bounty either. So give me your ship and what would be a reasonable bounty for Luffy starting off in this story. I also chose not to write the fight scene with Alvida due to just how weak they are even for East Blue standards. That's about it. Bionic-TitanX out!


	4. The End Of Morgan

A/N: This is the longest chapter yet reaching over 3,000 words in total. That's worthy of a celebration. Be sure to leave a review after each chapter because you guys motivate me to write more and feel free to PM me. I will respond in due time. Onto the story!

A 7 year old with black hair ran through what appeared to be a jungle. He was running away from one of the animals who wanted food and they spotted him. The kid continued to run until he hit a dead end.

"Oh no. Oh no. Oh no." They repeated to themselves.

The young boy turned his head to see a ferocious tiger looking down at him and walked towards the boy. Their green eyes were gleaming in the sunlight. The rest of their body at one point was even covered in shadows making the tiger seem even more terrifying to the young boy.

"S-Stay back." The kid spoke quietly.

The tiger continued to move closer to the boy, causing the boy to feel even more fearful of what was going to happen to him. He could hear his heart pounding in his ears and he could tell his breathing pattern becoming quicker.

"S-Stay back." They spoke a bit louder.

It all fell on dead ears as the monster of an animal lunged at him. The boy was beyond terrified, but he refused to die today. He wouldn't die today. There was still so much he hadn't seen yet. All of a sudden, he felt a sudden surge of strength. So much that he had to release it someway. Somehow.

"I SAID STAY BACK!" They yelled to the heavens.

A wave of energy hit the tiger causing them to collapse. Not only did the tiger collapse, but they appeared to have fallen unconscious. The boy's legs became weak afterwards and he fell flat on his butt. He was breathing heavily and clutching his heart in order to help steady his breathing. He was trying to keep himself stable.

"Luffy! Luffy!" A grown man's voice hollered.

"Gramps!" Luffy yelled back.

A man out of his prime ran and found Luffy on the ground. He saw an unconscious tiger nearby. Oh please don't be what he thinks happened.

"Luffy, can you stand?"

Luffy tried to get up, but he fell back on the ground afterwards. He shook his head in response and stretched out his arms with tears in his eyes. The man lifted Luffy up and carried him out of the jungle.

"What happened Luffy?"

Luffy had tears running down his eyes as he explained all that happened to him while he was in the jungle after Garp lost sight of him for a bit. Once he got onto the tiger and what happened with it, he was rather shocked.

'Of course the kid's gonna have Conqueror's Haki. Color me impressed that he was able to use it at such a young age.' The man thought to himself.

"Luffy. Do you know what you did back there?"

"N-No."

"You used Conqueror's Haki back there kid! Only one in a million people are born with Conqueror's Haki! Now that I know you can unlock Haki at such a young age, we can start on the basics of Haki, but first, we need to get you real strong! You want to become a Marine right?"

"No."

"WWWWHHHHHAAAATTTT?"

"I want to become a Marine Hero stronger than even you Gramps!" Luffy proclaimed.

"Oh, really? Ha! We'll see about that won't we?"

'This warms my heart.' Garp thought to himself with a single tear falling from his face.

*Line*

Currently, Luffy was running towards the Marine grounds to see Zoro. He needed to make sure Zoro was alive. He could barely feel his aura among the rest of the citizens. He knew Zoro was supposed to be strong, but he was already knocking on death's door. Knowing what Zoro did for the little girl back at the cafe sealed the swordsman's fate. He was determined to make Zoro part of his crew no matter what!

"Hey! Zoro! You still alive?!" Luffy yelled.

Zoro looked up and grit his teeth at the sight of Luffy.

"You again?"

Luffy smiled seeing that Zoro was still alive. He jumped over the gates and landed on the soil with his fists resting on his hips.

"Hey Zoro. I have a proposition for you. Join my crew and I'll get your swords back. Not only that, but I'll make sure to teach you in the ways of Haki and help you to grow stronger than you'd ever be if you continued to waste your time here in the East Blue."

"What? No way! That's incredibly unfair!"

"Shishishi! Who said life was ever fair?"

Before Zoro had another say in the matter, a strong wind blew and Luffy vanished.

"H-How'd he do that?" Zoro questioned out loud.

Luffy had become wind and moved through the air to get through to the fortress. Unfortunately, he shot himself a little too far as an air bullet and crashed into something hard. He turned back into his human form and looked around to see what he crashed into. What he ended up seeing was that he was surrounded by several Marines.

"Interesting."

"You. You. You hit my statue! How dare you?! Such an act is a call for death!" A man with blonde hair, steel jaw, and an axe in place of an arm proclaimed.

Luffy looked at the man with confusion.

"What statue? This one right here?"

The Marines looked at Luffy with fear. There were other Marines who were trying to keep the statue from falling and crashing in the city, but they were struggling immensely.

"Hey. You all. Why is it that you're trying to pull up that statue of the guy with the axe?"

The Marines looked at Luffy with even more fear than before and whimpered a little bit. Luffy frowned underneath his mask. It didn't seem like this Captain Morgan guy was a pretty good guy. With the way he was acting right now, he seemed to be a bit of a narcissist. He hated those sorts of people.

"Shoot that man down right now! For those who disobey orders, you'll be sentenced to death!" Morgan ordered.

"I've got no time for this. You don't deserve a statue made in your honor Morgan. You seem to have this place ruled in fear. That's not how a Marine should act." Luffy stated.

He made a coating of Armament Haki on one of his arms and hit the statue causing it to shatter. Seeing this caused all the surrounding Marines to scream in shock and Morgan was outraged seeing the display. Before they could do anything though, Luffy vanished, but he did manage to put enough force into his elemental form that it caused someone to be blown back and off the building. It was Helmeppo. He was screaming thinking that he was about to fall to his death, but Luffy grabbed him with half his body solid while the bottom portion of his body was still air. They were hovering above the ground. Helmeppo didn't realize that he stopped falling though and continued to scream.

"Hey! Stop screaming already!" Luffy mouthed, ticked off at Helmeppo's screaming. "You aren't even falling anymore so calm down."

Helmeppo halted the crying for a moment in order to observe his surroundings. What Luffy was saying was true. He wasn't falling to his death anymore, but he wasn't safely back on the ground anymore. He saw that Luffy was the one holding him by the collar and from how high they were, he was the one that was holding life and death in his hands. That wasn't good at all.

"Now. Let's try this again." Luffy muttered.

Luffy crashed into the Marine base with Helmeppo where several Marines were surrounding the area. As soon as they caught sight of Luffy, they pointed their guns at him. Unfortunately for them, Luffy held Helmeppo in front of him forcing the Marines to seize fire.

"Tell me where Zoro's swords are. Don't and I'll throw you out the window." Luffy threatened.

Helmeppo took Luffy's threat to heart and told him where to look. Luffy began running. When Luffy did find Helmeppo's room, he glared down at Helmeppo thinking that he lied due to how pink the room was.

"Why you little liar!"

"I-I swear! This is my room and the swords are in there! Look! You can even see them in the corner of the room!" Helmeppo defended himself.

Sure enough, Helmeppo was right. Luffy still had a firm grip on Helmeppo in case he was lying and walked into the room. He found the swords in the corner like Helmeppo said they were, but he didn't know which ones were his. He heard more Marines outside as well so he decided to see what was with all the commotion. It was a good thing he looked up as well. He saw Coby trying to untie Zoro's ropes, but there were also several Marines there as well as Captain Morgan. All of them had their guns pointed at the two.

"Oh no. There's no time to figure out which swords are Zoro's own. I'll just take all three for right now and have Zoro pick out his swords later once the situation's been handled with."

Luffy grabbed all three of the swords and jumped out the window unknowingly having Helmeppo still in his grip. WIth that, he slowed down the landing turning his lower half into his Logia form making a safe landing. Helmeppo was screaming the whole time.

"Oh? I never let you go. My bad." Luffy realized.

He loosened his grip on Helmeppo giving the blonde a sense of relief. They managed to remove themselves from Luffy's grip now that it was severely loosened. Morgan glared down at Luffy with such an intensity that it brought chills up the rest of the Marines' backs. They shivered even if it was only for a little bit.

"Fire!" Morgan yelled.

Several Marines shot at Luffy, Zoro, and Coby, but Luffy jumped into the heat of the moment. He manipulated the vectors of the surrounding air to repel the bullets. The bullets didn't hit the Marines though. Well, most of them. Some were shot in certain parts of their body. The body parts struck were not fatal though. Luffy looked back to Zoro and Coby with a wide grin on his face hidden by his mask.

"So tell me Zoro. Will you join my crew?" Luffy asked knowing the circumstances they were in.

Zoro grinned.

"I accept. I'll join your crew. Get in the way of my dreams of becoming the World's Strongest Swordsman and you will have to suffer for it."

Luffy nodded.

"I wouldn't have it any other way. The future Pirate King only wants the best."

He quickly untied Zoro's ropes freeing him.

"Now, which of these swords are yours Zoro?"

"All of them."

"Interesting."

Luffy handed Zoro his swords and faced Morgan once again.

"Now, allow your captain to show you what he can do!"

Luffy faced the Marines again. Then he yelled.

"Kaze Kaze no Gatling!"

Luffy shot several punches in the air not necessarily hitting the Marines themselves. His fists became blurs to all of the Marines in the area. They were confused at first as to what Luffy was doing until several of them were going down from a strong invisible force. It was as if the air pressure was hitting them making some of them even go unconscious. That didn't make much sense at first unless…

"All the Marines who have fallen on the ground, shoot yourselves." Morgan ordered.

Several Marines who were still standing were shocked at what Captain Morgan just told them to do. He was asking the ones who had fallen to commit suicide. What was even crazier was that some of them were even hesitantly pointing their guns at themselves. Luffy appeared to have seen and heard this as well. It angered him that Marines like Morgan existed and were even allowed to get up this far in Marine was having none of this.

"ENOUGH!" Luffy yelled.

A wave of Conqueror's Haki hit everyone in the vicinity. All of the Marine soldiers collapsed unconscious. Morgan was breathing heavily with his vision blurred. He was forced down to kneel and struggling to keep himself conscious. It was the same for Coby. Zoro was leaning on the post trying his hardest to keep standing.

'W-What was that? W-Was that Haki? Is my captain really that strong?' Zoro thought to himself.

"I've had enough of you Morgan. During my time as a Marine, people like you always sickened me."

Luffy took off his mask to reveal his face.

"I'm not going to let you continue your tyranny so long as I'm here!" Luffy shouted to the heavens.

Morgan was beyond shocked. He'd seen that the boy had a straw hat on him, but he didn't think it was the straw hat that belonged to THE Monkey D. Luffy. Youngest Marine to make it so far up in the Marines. A monster just like his grandfather and he was seeing his ferocious power firsthand.

"W-Wait! I didn't know it was you! Maybe we can arrange something!" Morgan pleaded.

Luffy was walking towards Morgan with a cold look in his eyes.

"Sure Morgan. We can make an arrangement."

Morgan was surprised at first by how easy it was to persuade the boy. He thought that he could possibly manipulate him, but what happened next shocked him and brought upon great pain to him.

"I'll take your one good arm and have you locked up in Impel Down rather than killing you right here. Right now. And in one of the worst ways possible."

Luffy picked up one of the swords the fallen Marines carried and dashed over to Morgan slashing his arm off. Morgan screamed in pain while blood was gushing from his arm. Luffy grabbed a pouch that was on the ground and found a lighter. Using his devil fruit abilities, Luffy was able to create a big enough flame to cauterize Morgan's wound. He was still in severe pain, but at least he wasn't going to bleed to death. As a matter of fact, Morgan even fell unconscious a couple of seconds later.

'My captain...He severely outclasses me.'

"Hey Zoro."

Zoro widened his eyes a bit.

"Now do you see how far the gap is? Even with what you saw here, that pales in comparison to what Dracule Mihawk could do. If I fought him, I would undoubtedly lose."

Zoro was beyond shocked. If Luffy was this strong and Mihawk was even stronger, how could he expect to even hold a candle to the man who currently owns the title as the World's Strongest Swordsman? He would have to train harder than he ever did before and with Luffy as his captain, he could possibly even get stronger than he ever could on his own. Maybe becoming part of Luffy's crew of pirates wasn't so bad after all.

After the Marines woke up and helped Luffy apprehend Morgan, they began to praise Luffy for his works.

'Apparently they must not know yet that I left the Marines. Oh well. They'll find out eventually.' Luffy thought to himself.

"Rear Admiral Luffy. We can't thank you enough for what you've done for us. Morgan's tyranny is no longer thanks to you. Is there anything we could do for you?" The head Marine currently asked.

Luffy pondered about his options for a minute before smiling looking at Coby.

"Well, I came here on my own terms so I didn't bring a navy vessel with me. I'd appreciate it if you could give me one. Along with that, I'd like for you all to get in contact with my grandpa Garp and tell him that a short cowardly boy with pink hair and glasses is going to be sent to him so he can personally train him to become a great Marine! Oh, and that Helmeppo guy too. Maybe he can turn the arrogant fool into someone worth respecting and not just using someone else's title to get what he wants in life."

The Marine nodded his head and got right to work in order to answer Luffy's requests. Luffy turned to Zoro and put a hand on the shorter man.

"Let's go eat at the little girl's restaurant. I'm sure you're starving and I need you at full strength for our voyage across the four blue seas."

Zoro nodded with a smile on his face.

"Sounds like a plan to me, but I'll need a couple of answers once we get off this island."

"Sure thing."

A/N: This part may seem rushed despite how long it took to have it released because for some of it I was trying to have it sort of like canon, but half way I was like screw it. Writing it similar to canon is not my thing at all so I went on my own kind of flow. As you can see, Luffy unlocked Conqueror's Haki from a young age. I mean, it does make sense he would unlock Haki at a young age if his grandpa is putting him through all this rigorous training. Oh, and that tiger is not the same tiger the ASL brothers fought. Should I have Luffy ditch the mask or keep the mask?

Oh, now that we have a ship, what should it look like? There was no way I was going to have Luffy keep sailing on Alvida's ship for long. Let me know which antagonists I can kill off that won't affect the plot too much in future arcs. If you really hate some antagonists and want to see them suffer, you've most definitely come to the right fanfic. Should I allow the Straw Hat crew to learn Haki early? Well, besides Zoro and Sanji obviously and would you like to see more of these flashbacks? Let me know. Bionic-TitanX out!


	5. On To Orange Town

A/N: I think now is a good time to answer some reviews.

Syluk: How do I start? Hmm. Well, I've actually discussed Luffy's abilities with another person on a while back before this story was even made and in the first chapter he did create a cyclone so please don't talk about my creativeness with his powers if I've only written 4 chapters. Beyond that, I can understand to an extent why you would think my characterization of Luffy is weird. Although I let Higuma live, seeing your whole crew slaughtered before your eyes can have major effects on someone. Just look at Gecko Moria for goodness sake. Even if Higuma tried to enter the bar and try a stunt like that again albeit having no one else to help him, Luffy left Makino with a gun that she could shoot the man with if she had to do so. As for Morgan, Luffy didn't just expose himself to all the people. All those who were at the site were either Marines, Coby, Helmeppo, or Zoro. With what Luffy revealed, it is the East Blue. The weakest ocean. From how you said it in the review, you make it seem like Luffy's been telling numerous people stuff when in actuality it's less than a handful.

Adrianking1: I can understand where you're coming from. This chapter will make up for it (I hope) and I'll take that recommendation into consideration.

Zoro and Luffy were currently on a Navy vessel albeit a bit on the small side. They were merely sitting on the deck enjoying the view of the blue sea and clear blue sky. It was rather peaceful and Luffy didn't even have to use his abilities. The wind was already blowing in the direction he wanted it to go. He smiled and turned to Zoro.

"So, Zoro, what made you decide to join my crew?"

"If I didn't join your crew, I would have to forcefully get my swords back." Zoro responded jokingly.

Luffy laughed a bit.

"No. What really made you decide to join my crew?"

"Well, if it weren't for you, I'd probably be dead right now."

Luffy was still wearing his mask at the time so Zoro couldn't see his eyebrow raise.

"Elaborate."

"That kid with the pink hair. While I was still tied to the cross, he appeared trying to untie me, but I was telling him not to do it. I only had a couple of days left. Then he gave me some vital information that changed my view about you."

Luffy was now showing full interest.

"That Helmeppo guy. I'm glad you punched him for having no intention of keeping his promise. Even going so far as try to crucify me because he was bored."

Luffy noticed Zoro clutch one of his katanas tightly even if for a second.

"After I found out and how you were willing to go out of your way to help me, even going so far as to stand in the way of several bullets firing at me, that's what really solidified my opinion of you. If it weren't for you, I would've most likely died back there and never be able to follow my dream."

"Your dream is to become the World's Greatest Swordsman, right?"

Zoro nodded.

"After we get a couple more crewmates, I'll be sure to start teaching you all to get stronger since currently-"

"I know. I know. I'm weak."

"You know what? SInce it's going to take a while to reach Orange Town, why don't we have a little spar?"

"You're a swordsman as well?" Zoro asked in surprise.

Luffy shook his head.

"A swordsman primarily uses his swords to fight. I know how to wield a sword, but that's not my primary weapon of choice. I prefer to use my own body as a weapon. That was how I was even before I ate my devil fruit. I know how to wield a series of weapons and will use any that I can find on short notice. So no. I don't classify myself as a swordsman."

Zoro nodded his head in understanding and got up from his sitting position unsheathing his swords.

"Ready?" He asked.

Luffy got up as well and nodded.

"Let's see if you can touch me."

Just like that, Luffy vanished from Zoro's line of view. Zoro was looking around to see where Luffy had gone only to get hit in the stomach.

"Gahh!" He exclaimed in pain.

He forced himself not to recoil in pain as he now saw Luffy again and tried to charge at him with his swords, but it was to no effect. Luffy managed to vanish right when he was a couple of feet away ready to slash.

"How does he do that?" Zoro asked himself.

Another attack came at Zoro, but this time he was effectively able to dodge. He smirked seeing he was able to avoid the attack only for it to quickly disappear as Luffy karate chopped him on the head. It didn't hurt intensely, but it was the equivalent of someone biting you. Sure, it hurt, but it wasn't like someone shot you or anything.

Zoro saw Luffy about to vanish again, but he launched himself at Luffy ready to strike. Luffy smiled seeing this and grabbed Zoro's swords with his bare hands. The only one he couldn't grab was the one in Zoro's mouth. He kicked Zoro back and shook his head.

"For the East Blue, you're pretty strong Zoro."

"Please. Don't pleasure me. You weren't trying the whole time were you?"

Luffy frowned and didn't answer his question. Instead, he heard the cries of a couple of grown men begging for help. Luffy looked down to see 3 men struggling on sea. They appeared to be stranded at sea. A situation that happened all too often unfortunately.

The men looked up in fear realizing that it was a Navy vessel and wrongly must have assumed that the Marines were here. Luffy would most definitely enjoy messing with them.

"Zoro. Spar's over. I'm going to bring these poor sea drifters on board the ship. Maybe we can get them to help us."

Luffy managed to turn one of his arms to air and have it branch off wrapping itself around each of the guys who were stranded at sea and hoisted them on board. The men looked at Luffy in horror at first until they realized it was just him and Zoro on the ship. Then they grinned like madmen.

"Oh, this is too great! We can take over this ship and make Captain Buggy proud!"

The three men unsheathed their swords and were about to charge at the two until Zoro quickly made light work of them and had them begging for mercy. Luffy sighed.

"You three mentioned something about Buggy. From the sounds of it, you all seem to be part of his crew. If that's the case, why don't you tell us about his last location?"

"We'll never tell!" One yelled. "Especially to a Marine!"

Luffy frowned hearing this.

"I'm sorry."

Everyone, including Zoro, looked at Luffy in shock. Was he really apologizing?

"I seem to have made it seem like you had a choice. Allow me to rephrase that. Tell me where Buggy is or you can suffocate to death." Luffy spoke cooly.

The three men were confused at first, but then they started choking. They couldn't breathe for some reason and they were clutching their throats. Their faces eventually started turning blue and they looked back to Luffy.

"Will you tell us where Buggy is?"

They nodded seeing this as the only option for their survival. Luffy relented and the pirates gasped now being able to breathe again. Luffy allowed them to have a minute in order to regain their normal breathing patterns.

"Now, where's Buggy?"

Luffy was scarily calm the whole time talking to them. It brought shivers up the men's backs. They saw their lives flash before their eyes just now and the man in the mask was acting like he had everything in control. They didn't blame him for thinking that way since that was basically the situation they were in now.

"Captain Buggy. He's in Orange Town." One said.

Luffy nodded.

"Good to know he hasn't left yet. Let's see if we can speed up this vessel." Luffy stated.

The wind pressure began to kick up and all of a sudden, the ship started to move at far faster speeds than it did before and they were making incredible progress across the sea. The Buggy pirate crewmates were shocked and were pondering their fate at the hands of Buggy when they make it to Orange Town.

"Hey."

The three men looked over.

"Ah! Pirate Hunter Zoro!" One squealed like a girl upon realization of who the green haired fellow that attacked them was.

"Who's Buggy?" Zoro questioned.

"Meh. He's some pirate that the Navy didn't care too much about. I want to meet him though."

"If the Navy didn't care too much about that guy, then why would you want to meet him?"

"To see just how strong he is."

"Captain Buggy is the strongest pirate to ever live!" One exclaimed with pride.

Luffy looked at them with a cold stare.

"I can care less about what you have to say about him unless it is genuinely a good piece of information that will help me in my pursuit of Buggy. What I would like to know though is how did you guys end up stranded at sea?"

The three looked embarrassed.

"Well, you see…"

They explained to the two how a girl managed to trick them by having it seem like she had treasure on her boat she'd be willing to give to the men as payment for food and water, but instead, it was that she had an empty chest on her ship and she stole their original ship. Suddenly, a maelstrom appeared and it sunk their ship leaving them stranded with only some plankwood keeping them from sinking.

Luffy and Zoro looked at the three in surprise.

"Wow. She seems like a good navigator. A very good trickster as well."

"When we lay our eyes on that girl again, she's gonna die!" They yelled in unison with anger in their voices.

Luffy just shook his head in response.

* * *

An orange haired girl was running away from 3 other pirates who were yelling at her. They were chasing the girl mentioning a map, but they stopped in their tracks and moved out of the way as a cannonball landed in the place they once stood.

"Where'd that cannonball come from?!" One screamed.

"Was that a buggy ball?!" Another squealed in terror.

"But why would one come flying at us, especially from the direction it came from?"

While they were questioning why the cannonball was aiming at them, the orange haired girl took this chance to evade her chasers. They were close on her tail before the distraction as well. Luck seemed to be on Nami's side today.

All of a sudden, the wind started swirling right in front of her line of vision and a tall figure wearing a skull mask appeared with a straw hat that she could notice on his head. It should've looked pretty ridiculous, but for some strange reason the person had this aura around them that made her grow more and more terrified as she got closer.

"Hey! Come back here!"

Nami looked back and saw her pursuers closing the gap between her and them. She looked back at the stranger and she could feel the sweat start to form on her forehead. The unique character raised one of their arms with their hand closed. They threw their arm back as if they were about to throw something. Sure enough, they threw what appeared to be a rusty nail.

"Kaze Kaze Pistol."

The nail stopped in midair and the person grinned seeing this. They lifted up one finger and wiggled it a bit. All of a sudden, the nail went at rapid speeds piercing one of the chasers through their shoulder, eye, and mouth. Nami's eyes widened seeing this. She then heard the figure begin whistling incredibly well. They began walking towards her. She turned back again when she heard the scream of another one of the pirates. This time, the nail appeared to have gone through their chest just missing their heart.

Nami could feel her heart thumping. At this point, it was actually pounding so hard, it was as if the thing was where her brain was supposed to be. She was sweating profusely now. She thought Buggy was bad, but this guy might be worse. Scratch that. He was worse!

The last pirate was pierced through their knees, arms, and their throat. They all collapsed on the ground bleeding. Oh Goda! This was a madman right here!

She felt something rest on her head. She slowly turned to see the figure smiling at her.

"There. Your pursuers have been taken care of."

Nami was speechless.

* * *

A 7 year old Luffy was holding a stick in his hands. It was raised up in the air.

"Now strike downwards!" Garp ordered.

Luffy did so, but the stick became a shiny black right before hitting the ground.

"Good. Good. Now, I want you to throw this acorn at the red target in the middle of that tree." Garp stated.

He handed Luffy an acorn and directed him to the tree. He tried throwing the acorn at the red target, but it didn't even have enough force to hit the tree. It simply fell to the ground after a couple feet.

Garp shook his head at Luffy.

"Try again."

Luffy walked over and picked up the acorn. He went back to his starting position and tried again...And again...And again. Luffy tried multiple times, but he just couldn't seem to get the hang of it.

"Come on Luffy. I know you can do it. I've seen you do it twice before!"

Luffy was tired of these shenanigans. He was hungry. Tired. Hating himself for not being able to do something for his one piece of known biological family. He was a pot boiling over with emotions right now and it didn't help with the fact that just yesterday he would have either drowned or gotten eaten by the Lord of The Coast. If it weren't for Gramps, he wouldn't have been here today.

"Gramps! I can't do it!" Luffy yelled and threw the acorn with all the strength he could muster.

Luffy subconsciously poured Haki into the acorn and it was sent flying at the tree hitting it right in the center. The acorn actually went right through the tree.

"Luffy." Garp spoke in awe.

"I'm sorry Gramps! I couldn't do it!" Luffy sobbed.

"Luffy. Look at me."

Luffy looked at his grandfather with tears in his eyes.

"You did it!" Garp cheered with a smile on his face.

He turned Luffy around to see his work and Luffy was in shock as well.

"With more practice, this stuff will become easy to you. For now, training can stop for today."

A/N: It's kind of hard to make the East Blue Saga dark due to just how wacky it was. I'm trying to make it darker though. Luffy's whistle is similar to that of one of the characters from the movie Kill Bill. Once we reach the Grandline, then Luffy can start using more moves. What do you guys want to see in the story? Let me know in the reviews. I'll try to make it darker and make Luffy smarter as it progresses. You'll see! You'll all see! Bionic-TitanX out!


	6. Buggy's Demise

A/N: 2 month hiatus! Unfortunately, I can't say that it's a new record because I've had longer hiatuses. From here on out, expect chapters to come out months apart since high school is killing me! **Be sure to read the Author Notes at the end!**

Nami shivered in the man's presence. He didn't seem the least bit hesitant in piercing those guys' bodies with a rusty nail. How did he even do that in the first place? If he was so eager to kill those guys back there, because there's no way they could have survived, who's to say he wouldn't be as eager to just end her as well? All these questions were going through her head at the moment until she realized the guy was still in front of her with his hand still resting on her shoulder.

"Yo." He said.

Nami needed to get this guy on her good side or else she didn't know what would happen. With his display of power just a minute go, maybe she could even manipulate him into distracting Buggy long enough for her to collect all his treasure and get out of there as soon as possible. Yeah. That sounded like a great idea!

"Um. Hi. Uh, thanks for saving me from those pirates back there. My name's Nojiko and I think we should work together. Surely a strong guy like you would want to test his strength against one of the monstrous pirates of the Blue."

Luffy looked at the girl in confusion about the monstrous pirate part. Was she referring to Buggy? Was he really strong or strong for the East Blue? Only reasons he was in the East Blue in the first place were to talk to Makino and because his brothers started their crews in the East Blue so it was only fair if he started his own there as well, but he was very confused about what this girl was talking about. The East Blue was notorious for being the weakest blue yet where the King of the Pirates originated from.

Nami stared back at the guy with sweat starting to form. His aura was completely different from anyone else's that she encountered during her years collecting treasure. There was no way she was about to give him her real name with such a menacing aura coming from a guy she just met. Not even Arlong had such a menacing aura. It was even getting kind of hard to breathe around him. She noticed his arm still on her shoulder so she shrugged it off quickly.

"Um, hello?"

"Yeah. I would like to test my strength against this Buggy guy. One of his friends told me a lot about him a while back. I'm going to see just how strong Buggy is."

Nami was at a loss for words. How cocky was this guy to think he could go up against someone like Buggy? The Buggy?!

"Wait. Why don't we make a plan instead of facing Buggy head on and attracting attention? Or at least form an escape plan or something? However you got here, Buggy's men may have tampered with it while we were talking."

"No need. I already have my crewmate protecting the ship from Buggy's men which shouldn't be too hard of a challenge with him."

"Wait. Crewmate? As in pirate?"

Luffy looked at the girl with no emotion behind that skull mask.

"Yeah. What about it?"

"I-I-I hate pirates!"

"Oh. That's to be expected."

"I'm still willing to make a partnership with you though. You seem like a strong pirate."

"Seem? Look, time is precious here and the more time we spend talking, Buggy could be doing who knows what! Now, if you don't have anything useful to tell me and keep having assumptions about people, stop wasting my time." Luffy responded growing more aggravated by the minute.

Nami shut her mouth and didn't say a word as Luffy left. She was terrified to get on his bad side and she was tipping towards it.

Luffy continued walking for a little bit before vanishing in a swirl of wind leaving Nami by herself to go collect Buggy's treasure and hopefully not get caught.

*Line*

A man with clown makeup, a striped shirt, pirate hat, and pants was looking over maps until one of his men barged into his office.

"What is the meaning of this? Barging into my office unannounced!" The clown man hollered.

"Captain Buggy! It's terrible out there! Several of our men have been slaughtered and by none other than the Pirate Hunter Zoro!"

"Oh? He's here? Well, that's inconvenient, but I'll deal with him quickly."

Buggy was about to get up from his seat when a blast of air hit him. It felt like a hard punch from someone, but there was no one in the room besides him and one of his subordinates. He rubbed his sore chin and looked around to see if there was anyone trying to hide.

"Who's there?! Show yourself and face my wrath!"

"Are you sure about that?" A distorted voice questioned.

"Who's that?"

Another punch. This time directly in the face. The subordinate of his was already knocked out from the mysterious voice's power.

"You know, I expected more from you Buggy. With your origins, you should at least be able to use Observation Haki at its most basic level to dodge my attacks and those were some of my slowest."

There was a swirl of wind in the room causing all the papers on Buggy's desk to blow away and scatter in the process as a figure began to form.

"Who are you supposed to be?" Buggy screamed.

"Oh, me? Oh, I'm just a little old Marine. I was actually sent here to give you an invitation to the Warlords."

Hearing this, Buggy's eyes widened.

"A-Are you serious?"

Luffy nodded. He was really hoping Buggy wasn't falling for this obvious lie.

"I don't believe it. If that were the case, why did you knock out my subordinate? And why am I hearing about several of my men being slaughtered out there?"

"They attacked first. It's simply self-defense."

"Why'd you attack me then? Hmm?"

"The Marines were intimidated. They wanted me to test your strength just to see if the rumors were true."

"What rumors?" Buggy was beginning to get excited.

"Well, there have been some rumors going around the Blues that someone by the name of Buggy seemed to have a high chance of becoming the next King of the Pirates if he ever left the East Blue. Even Kaido is a bit scared about his power."

Buggy was seen flexing his muscles in pride.

"Yes. Well, I suppose I am quite strong. That straw hat of yours though. It irks me. It reminds me too much of...him!"

Buggy immediately got up from his seat and launched a fist at Luffy's straw hat. Luffy managed to dodge it at first, but he wasn't expecting for Buggy's fist to detach from his arm and go right back at his hat. The knives in between Buggy's fingers locked up in his fist pierced Luffy's hat. Buggy laughed at this, but Luffy was angered by this. He ruined his hat. It wasn't even just about the hat. It was about the promise he made with this hat that really mattered to him. How dare he! Enough with the silly game he was playing with Buggy!

Luffy breathed in and out before clearing his mind. He calmed down his body. He couldn't allow his emotions to get the better of him. Not again!

Luffy looked at Buggy. Buggy looked at Luffy.

"So, where's my invitation letter?" Buggy asked.

Luffy laughed right in Buggy's face.

"Y-You thought I was serious?! A guy who has the biggest and roundest red nose I've ever seen thought that he was actually going to become part of the Warlords? And while he's still in the East Blue without any signs of knowing Haki? Oh my goodness. You crack me up."

Buggy was furious. He was made a fool out of by some no name Marine wearing a skull mask for some unknown reason. Not only that, but they made fun of his nose! No one makes fun of his nose and gets away with it.

Buggy shot another fist at Luffy. Luffy didn't even bother to dodge. The fist went right through him, but there were no visible signs of injury from Buggy's attack. Not even in the slightest. A hole opened up in Luffy's chest the size of Buggy's fist, but it closed up quickly. Luffy stopped laughing and looked at Buggy seriously now.

"My turn."

Buggy was at a loss for words now. He was absolutely terrified! This was a Logia he was dealing with! He never learned how to use Haki like Shanks did and now it was coming back to bite him in the butt. He thought he wouldn't have to deal with something like fighting a Logia in the East Blue. Sure, there was Smoker, but he usually stayed to Loguetown so if he kept his distance, he thought for sure he would be fine. His luck seemed to have ran out today.

"Kaze Kaze-"

Buggy didn't know what kind of move this guy was about to make so he tried to high tale out of here. He tried opening up the window and jumping out from there, but he was too big to fit through. He used his Chop Chop powers to separate himself into multiple slices so he could fit through, but fate had different plans in mind.

Luffy sighed looking at Buggy's pathetic form of trying to flee and shook his head in disappointment. What did Shanks see in this guy? There was no way he was about to waste any of his more powerful moves on this guy.

"Zap."

All of a sudden, every part of Buggy's body began to feel discomfort. Enough discomfort to cause him to lose his focus on his body parts and have them just drop to the floor. This pain he was feeling was more annoying than anything.

Luffy looked at this guy in utter disappointment and walked over to pick up his fallen hat.

"You know, that's one of my weakest moves and one of my first as well. More of a distraction than anything. Short, tiny blasts of air. Barely strong enough to really even be considered an attack. Just an annoyance."

Was this guy mocking him again? He wanted to kill him so bad right now and just get on with his day, but he just had to have eaten a Logia.

"I'm just going to blow this whole shack up. That's what you get for wasting my time." Luffy muttered underneath his breath.

Buggy heard his muttering though and panicked. He needed to distract the boy long enough in order to escape and more sneakily this time too.

"H-Hey! About your hat. Where did you get it from? It kinda reminds me of an old friend of mines. Surely you know about one of the Four Emperors, Shanks. He used to always wear that hat, but some time ago, he just stopped saying he made a bet on the next generation. Whatever that means."

This was enough to catch Luffy's attention. He kept it vague though. He already blew his cover twice out of emotion. He wasn't about to do so again. Not until his first bounty. He had an issue with keeping secrets.

"This hat is very dear to me. A friend gave it to me saying for me to take good care of it and bring it back to them once I accomplished my dreams. Now, you ruined it."

Luffy grew angry now. The fact someone like Buggy could manage to get the slip on him showed just how much he let his guard down over here in the East Blue just because it was notorious for being the weakest sea. He needed to do better.

"I'm leaving. Oh, and I was never a Marine. You got tricked by another pirate." Luffy mentioned as he walked away.

Buggy wanted to hit himself on the head multiple times for getting tricked like that. Stupid! Stupid! Stupid!

"Hey. What's that?" Buggy asked to himself.

A see through cube laid at his feet. It seemed to be vibrating though. As if it was unstable. As if it...were...a...bomb...Oh no. Buggy forced all his body parts to go through the window as it was his fastest option right now. Some parts he forced to slip right through the window were left with splinters, scraped skin, or even some bleeding, but it was much better than getting blown up in that shack where he looked at maps he probably would never use.

He kept moving and eventually made it far enough that the explosion wouldn't affect him. He heard the cube-shaped bomb go off though. He turned to see the explosion and a tear actually fell down his cheek. Not for the fact he just lost a subordinate, but all his hard work was gone! Curse that straw hat wearing pirate!

Buggy breathed out a sigh of exasperation and looked for his crew only to see piles of sliced up bodies all over. Most seemed to have bled out while others were just barely holding onto life. Thankfully, Mohji, the lion, Cabaji, and some of his other subordinates survived so he didn't have to completely start from scratch. Now though, Buggy had to become more serious as a pirate. First step. Learn Haki so he could kill that brat for all the trouble he caused him today.

*Line*

Luffy looked around the town to see just how much destruction Buggy and his men caused. How pathetic harming others who couldn't even defend themselves properly. He imagined the people weren't even the ones to have picked a fight with Buggy first. He ended up spotting the girl again from earlier with big sacks of...treasure he was assuming. Either that or dirty clothes, but treasure seemed to be the more viable option.

He walked over to the girl with his hands stuffed in his pockets. He already knew she lied about her name from beforehand, but he had to give her some credit for being able to lie well. The lie came out so smoothly it was as if it was rehearsed, but he could tell from the slight body movements that she was lying. It was so slight that barely anyone would notice.

"Oh. It's the time waster girl again." Luffy spoke.

Nami froze with fear.

"I took care of Buggy. He was a waste of time honestly. I blew up his base of operations because he annoyed me so much."

"T-That was you?" She asked not facing him.

She heard the big explosion back there and it was terrifying. It was an even louder explosive sound than the Buggy balls and those were no joke either.

"I've been meaning to ask you a question though. How did you even arrive here? Did someone drop you off here or something? Oh, and don't lie. I could tell earlier you lied about your name."

Nami gulped. He knew and never said a word. Better to tell the truth now about how she arrived here. Clearly, he wasn't allied with Buggy so what could be the harm in telling him?

"I tricked some sailors into leaving their boat and hopping into mines with the promise of treasure, but there was none in the chest I had with me. If I stayed on my original ship,a maelstrom would have appeared and sunk it leaving me stranded at sea."

"Hmm. Interesting. Perhaps you could be of some use to me after all. How does this sound? Join my crew as my navigator. A navigator being able to predict the weather with such accuracy is something every captain would love to have on their ship."

"You can forget about it! I'm not joining a pirate's crew!"

Nami immediately covered her mouth in fear of what the guy was going to do to her. Instead of killing her or anything, he just laughed.

"Oh yeah. Forgot you don't like pirates. Well, how about this instead? We can make a sort of temporary partnership? You help navigate myself and my crewmate across the seas for a while in exchange for protection?"

It didn't sound like that bad of an idea in Nami's head, but she had to add something else in there.

"I'll only accept this partnership on one condition and that is I get 80% of the treasure you find."

"...No."

"60."

"No."

"50%. That's my final offer!"

"Make it 40% and you have a deal."

"What? But you're getting 60% of the treasure. That's not fair."

"Neither were your sale pitches. It's not like I'm even getting 60% of the treasure truly either since I have to split it with the rest of the crewmates to come and I need to have a little more than the rest in order to look after the ship and other important payments."

"...Fine. You drive a hard bargain, but I'll accept since you'll be protecting me from danger."

The two shook hands and travelled to the Navy ship.

"Drop one of the bags though. The people need the money."

"What? No way!" Nami cried.

"Do it or the deal's off."

Nami grumbled before letting go of one of the bags and tossing the others to Luffy.

"The bags were getting too heavy for me to hold. You hold them for the rest of the time being."

Luffy shrugged and accepted it.

When they finally arrived, Nami could see Zoro snoozing off on the ship while all around there were piles of dead bodies cut up by him. It made her even more wary. The Pirate Hunter Zoro was his crewmate? She didn't expect that honestly, but she has seen weirder. What confused her the most though was the fact there was a Navy ship. Wasn't he supposed to be a pirate?

"Are you getting on the ship or what?" Luffy hollered after he noticed she wasn't climbing aboard.

"I thought you were supposed to be a pirate." Nami pointed out.

"I plan on getting this remodeled soon."

Nami sighed and climbed aboard. She felt that she was way over her head now.

*Line*

A 12 year old Luffy sat in Sengoku's office tapping his thumbs together. Sengoku looked at the boy then up to Garp.

"And how old is he again?"

"12."

"Right. And you expect me to allow a 12 year old boy to join the Marines? Come on Garp. Be serious for a minute."

"Look. This boy is my grandson and not just the sort of grandsons I claim. I'm his paternal grandfather."

This caused Sengoku's eyes to widen. If what Garp was saying was the truth, that meant Dragon was the boy's father and if they managed to get the son of the Revolutionary Army's leader on their side, that could end up boosting the morale of the Marines by leaps and bounds!

"Such an opportunity only comes once in a lifetime but, I simply can't accept the boy into the Marines at such a young and tender age. At best, I'm willing to offer personal training for the boy with some of our Marine officers for a couple of years before officially allowing him into the ranks of the Marines."

Garp snorted at that.

"You really think a lowly Marine petty officer can train the boy? You're underestimating him by a long shot. Show him Luffy."

Garp crossed his arms with a smirk as Luffy's hands blackened and a wave of Conqueror's Haki was released. Any low ranking Marine either collapsed with foam coming out of their mouths or they stumbled for a bit. Needless to say, Sengoku was shocked.

"Well alright then." Sengoku adjusted his glasses. "Guess we need to go up higher the social ladder for this kid."

Sengoku began to look at some papers for good Marines to train Luffy until…

"Wait!"

Everyone turned to see a tall man wearing a red suit.

"I would like to personally train the boy."

"Are you sure about this? The boy could be a lot to handle."

"From the looks of it, he already has an understanding for Haki, so I could teach him more about how to use Haki in combat. Besides, it appears Garp's been teaching the boy some moves so surely he could handle my teaching methods."

"Very well Akainu. Luffy, was it?"

Luffy nodded.

"Akainu will be teaching you until you reach 15. Then, we'll allow you to officially join the Marines. OK?" Sengoku smiled.

Luffy nodded in anticipation and smiling like he was at a candy store. Well, in Luffy's case, a meat store.

Garp didn't look as pleased though. He had a bit of a frown on his face knowing about Akainu and his Absolute Justice ways. He didn't have too much of a say in the decision though. He walked up to Luffy and ruffled his hair with a smile on his face.

"There you go Luffy. Now you can grow up to be big and strong like your Gramps."

"Yay!" Luffy cheered.

Garp turned to leave and he knocked shoulders with Akainu.

"If I find that you've harmed my grandson excessively in any way, shape, or form, I'm coming after you and I'll drown you. Regardless of where you are, I will hunt you down. Got it?"

Akainu wasn't too scared by the threat but still responded with a 'yes.' Sure, Garp was out of his prime, but he still managed to take down Xebecs D. Rocks. No easy task indeed.

Luffy was exposed to Garp's grueling training methods from a young age so Akainu's training wasn't too hard to adapt to. It was mainly the intensity of the heat that he had trouble adapting to. No one ever told him about there being a guy who could turn his body into lava!

He was also being taught about this Absolute Justice mindset that his new teacher had. He didn't necessarily believe in it, but he could understand where Akainu was coming from. Most pirates were bad, but his brothers weren't bad people despite wanting to become pirates. Even when it came to the Four Emperors. Yeah. Two of them seemed to be bad news although one did seem to have good intentions that just had a really bad execution. The other needed to be taken down as soon as possible. He had an awesome devil fruit ability though. He could turn into a dragon! Who wouldn't want to be able to turn into a dragon?!

The other two seemed like they were just very strong people who travelled under the moniker of pirates and since they were so strong, they were part of the four emperors. One of them was named Edward Newgate, but went by the name Whitebeard. He didn't seem to cause too much trouble. Besides, he was an old man. Supposedly on the ill side as well.

The other was named Red Haired Shanks. He didn't even have a fleet. Just one big ship with some really strong members on the crew. He seemed to be more of an explorer than a pirate. He felt those two really just wanted to be free like he did. Reaching his grandfather's status in the Marines would mean he's truly free though. At least, that's what he used to think, but now becoming an Admiral truly meant being free. The higher the position, the more freedom you have. Right?

A/N: We made it to over 4,000 words and got done with the Orange Town arc! Woohoo! Now, I know Luffy doesn't appear to be necessarily dark as some of the reviews have said, but I'm gradually learning more about dark personalities and I'm even taking a class talking about the different mindsets in people. More of Luffy's past is revealed and no he hasn't eaten the devil fruit yet at that time in the story. For those saying Luffy isn't necessarily dark, can you direct me to some stories or sites explaining dark personalities more in depth because I'm trying to gradually bring in a more dark Luffy. Two more things. What should the ship look like? I want to give it a unique design albeit with some features of the Going Merry, but still make it look intimidating. Last question. What devil fruit should Sabo get? It was a bit of a cheapout in the Dressrosa arc when Sabo ate Ace's devil fruit. I'm unsure of what will happen to Ace in the Marineford arc, but all I can say is I don't plan on having Sabo as an option for eating the devil fruit in case Ace does die.


	7. The Great Liar

A/N: Thank you for the help in me understanding how a dark personality works and I made a little mistake by saying Xebecs D Rocks instead of Rocks D Xebecs. The whole Rocks Pirates thing messed me up. Since no one gave me any ideas for a different design for the ship, I'll make my own. Oh, and I was a bit skeptical on the Mizu Mizu no mi fruit until I read something on Reddit regarding it and I liked it. Time to change up the timeline!

* * *

It's been a couple of days since Nami left with the two men on the Navy ship. She was cautious at first around the two do to the events she saw back at Orange Town. She wanted to flee from them as soon as possible at first, but the way she saw them act towards each other was...interesting. They were surprisingly friendly towards each other and after the first day on the ship, the one in the mask even acted more kind towards her. Speaking about how they started off on the wrong foot and wanting to start over since they couldn't continue to act so wary of each other. It was a recipe for disaster as he said.

"So, where are we going anyways?" Nami questioned.

"Syrup Village. I heard about a great sniper over at that village and I'd like to see their skills. There seems to always be precious gems in the East Blue if you look hard enough." Luffy responded.

Nami nodded, understanding the man's reasoning.

"After that, we'll need a cook, a doctor, a shipwright, soldiers, and a musician. If we could get more than just one of each, the better." Luffy answered.

Nami rose an eyebrow at some of the answer.

"Why would you mention soldiers and why would you need a musician?"

"I need soldiers to protect the ship since we'll continue moving on towards more dangerous territory. This is a walk in the park currently. As for the musician, someone who can make codes and messages out of their music would be useful so the enemy wouldn't know our next move if they were to intercept a Transponder Snail."

Nami was surprised by this sound reasoning. This guy was too confusing for her. At one moment, he's like an assassin, at another he's an idiot complaining about meat, and now, it's like he's a cold calculating genius. What was up with this guy? She wasn't going to stress over it though especially with how it seemed they were approaching their destination. She didn't have to do that much navigating since he had these strange wind abilities so he could maneuver the ship however he liked. Most she would end up doing is telling them about the weather conditions to avoid whenever he took breaks from using his wind abilities.

At first, Nami had a smile on her face knowing that she'd probably be able to steal some loot and get to rest for a little bit while the monsters that she just so happened to be sharing a ship with were going around doing who knows what in the village. When the trio finally made it to the village, they didn't even manage to travel into the village 5 feet before capturing the attention of some strange individuals. A rock was even thrown at her head.

"Stop right there Marines! I, Captain Usopp, of the great Usopp pirates, am in control of this island. State your purpose now or prepare to suffer at the hands of my 100,000 followers." A long nosed, scrawny looking boy exclaimed from the top of a cliff.

Luffy looked at this and laughed as he saw three flags start to move around over the bushes. It didn't take someone like Vegapunk to figure out that this guy was lying, but his name intrigued him. Was it possible that this Usopp character was also the son of Yasopp? He'd have to check it out a little later, but currently, he wanted to play this guy's game just for the heck of it.

"Captain Usopp? That's you? Well, we come on behalf of the Marines in order to arrest you and the rest of your crew for heinous crimes all throughout the Grandline. I would suggest you not resist either."

Nami looked over at the skull mask wearer in confusion. She thought he wasn't a Marine yet here he was acting as if he was. Not only that, but it seemed to be working. The long nosed kid called Usopp was trembling right now. Snot was beginning to run down his nose and his eyes getting a bit watery.

"Hey. Kaiser. Don't you think this joke has gone on long enough?" Nami questioned.

Luffy chuckled lightly at this.

"Yeah. Yeah. I guess you're right, but I'm impressed at the fact he's still standing. Most people usually would be peeing their pants right now and on their knees saying they were framed."

"Wait! S-So, you're not going to arrest me or anything?" Usopp hollered.

Luffy looked at Usopp and sighed shaking his head.

"No, but tell me Usopp. Have you ever heard of the sniper Yasopp?" Luffy asked.

Usopp was hesitant in answering the question. After all, he was dumb enough to tell them that he was a pirate even though he wasn't. He was glad they didn't take him seriously, but if he told them that he was the son of a pirate, he wouldn't know if they'd take so kindly to that.

"Oh, and if you're wondering, we're not Marines. We just so happen to have a Marine ship, but we want to get it recrafted to fit our tastes."

Usopp was still hesitant about this. Who's to say they weren't lying?

Luffy frowned. The long nosed guy was quite hesitant and he couldn't blame him for that either. If he continued this way, he would be getting nowhere. He had to go at this from a different approach.

"Alright. Look. I know you're Yasopp's kid. He told me a lot about you."

Hearing this, Usopp blinked in surprise. This guy just said that he knew about who his father was and he said his father talked about him! Against his better judgement, Usopp ran down to meet the others on the sand. This made Luffy begin to creep up a smirk. He turned to the ship only to see a sleeping Zoro. A tick mark formed on Luffy's head. He turned to Nami.

"Can you wake up Zoro for me please?"

Nami nodded and climbed back onto the ship.

Luffy waited for Usopp to make his way down. When the boy finally arrived, he was panting heavily. They would have to work on that later on if Usopp did end up joining his crew.

"You *pant* know *pant* my dad?!"

Luffy nodded.

"But how?" Usopp questioned.

"Your dad is one of the most famous snipers in the world. He sails under the flag of the Yonko Red Haired Shanks. With such a reputation as his own, I don't see how anyone couldn't have known about the man."

"No. That's not what I mean. I'm asking how you know my dad. Is it personal?"

Luffy laughed hearing the question.

"Please. Every chance he got, he would talk about you."

Usopp had eyes of wonder hearing this from the masked individual.

"Come with me. I'll get you guys something to eat in exchange for telling me more about my father."

Luffy smiled hearing the mention of food and nodded his head.

After Nami dragged Zoro off of the ship, the group went to a simple restaurant in the small village where Luffy continued to tell Usopp about his experience with Yasopp.

"Yeah! Your dad would never stop talking about you. He mentioned how you were such a great sniper. How you were a natural and how you got it from your old man."

Usopp laughed hearing this. He rarely ever saw his father and it was mainly when he was a little kid. It was nice to hear that his father would talk about him. The way this guy talked about his father too sounded so genuine. He would be shocked to find out he was lying the whole time. After all, the world's greatest liar should have been able to detect a lie if he ever heard one.

"So, what brings you all here to Syrup Village?" Usopp asked.

"Well, I came here for two things. The first thing that led me to Syrup Village is because of what I've heard of a sniper and the second thing is that I was hoping there would be someone to remodel my ship."

"Hmm. Well sorry. I can't help you all about the ship, but if you need a captain for your eventual ship, I'll happily take over the position."

"...Yeah no. Also, what about that house on top of the hill? Seems like a pretty big house. Maybe the owner there has a ship that we-"

"Don't go there!" Usopp yelled.

Luffy frowned at Usopp's actions while Zoro continued drinking his sake like nothing happened. Usopp realized what he just did and blushed. He noticed the position of the Sun and realized that he needed to go.

"Well guys, I have to go. Just tell the waiter to put the expenses on my tab!" Usopp hollered before running out.

"Odd." Luffy muttered under his breath.

Luffy decided to hold Usopp's unusual behavior questioning for later though and continued to dine on the food provided for him and the others. Oh, Usopp would hate him for the bill he would have to pay.

Some time later, a group of kids sneaked into the pub only to see Luffy, Nami, and Zoro dining on their food.

"Hey! Where's Captain Usopp?" A boy with glasses and onion shaped hair cried.

Zoro decided to play a cruel little joke on the kids in response to the rudeness.

"We ate him!" He said.

The three kids were horrified and turned to Nami.

"MONSTER!" They all screamed in unison.

They were pointing at Nami instead of Zoro when they screamed. This seemed to tick the girl off though.

"WHY ARE YOU ALL POINTING AT ME?!" She yelled.

The kids were even more terrified afterwards. Luffy and Zoro snickered at this reaction before Luffy cleared up the whole mess.

"No. We didn't eat your friend. He treated us to a meal and left off in a hurry all of a sudden for some reason."

"Oh! Well, a friend of Usopp's is a friend of ours. He usually goes up to that big house on top of the hill to lie a whole lot to the owner of the house." Tamenegi said.

"How horrible." Nami muttered.

The kids heard what she said and went on to defend their friend.

"Oh no. You misunderstand. You see, the owner is a sick, bedridden girl. Her parents died a while back and she's only had her butlers to keep her company. Usopp goes up to entertain her with his extravagant lies and she really likes them. She knows he lies about all of the stories, but they tend to brighten up her otherwise boring days." a boy who vaguely resembled a carrot explained.

Nami was still skeptical about Usopp, but decided to accept the explanation. After all, he didn't seem nearly as bad in his introduction than the two she was with.

"Well, let's go then." Luffy said.

"Hmm? What do you mean?" Zoro inquired.

"I mean, let's go back to the ship. We don't have much business here. Can't afford to stay here much longer if there's no purpose here."

"What about the sniper?"

"Doesn't seem like Usopp is interested in the role." Luffy responded.

"Well alright then."

The trio got up out of their seats and began to leave. Before leaving to go back to the ship, Luffy paused.

"In case something happens, here's my number. There's bound to be a transponder snail here somewhere so you can use this number to contact me. Only contact me with this number if it's an emergency."

Luffy wrote his number down on a scrap of paper and handed it to the kids.

"Oh, and if Usopp wants to contact me about any new interest in the role I offered, give him the number."

The boys nodded and saw Luffy leave back to the Marine ship.

"Where to next captain?"

"Hmm. I don't know. We could stock up on food, but we would need a chef first. And a sniper. We also still need soldiers."

"Aren't we pirates though? Why soldiers?"

"The Navy have several Marines on standby at all times. With such a force like that, it would bring fear into the hearts of the common man. It's only once you enter the New World the tides change and the Navy aren't seen as such a mighty force anymore. The pirates there are no jokes and you'll see what I mean soon enough. I want to have an army similar to the Navy to protect what we view as precious and to aid me on my quest of tearing down the World Government."

Nami gulped. She'd heard similar words from him before but the tenacity in his voice got her every time. It made her believe he could defeat anyone who would get in the way of his goal. He made her believe he could not be defeated. That's why she so cautiously tapped his shoulder and asked him the simple question.

"Will you take down Arlong for me?" She quietly asked.

* * *

A/N: This took way too long to finally make and I don't care! So yeah. Since Luffy was early, no Klahadore/Kuro shenanigans...yet. And yes. We are jumping into the Arlong Park arc next. Whoever said I'm doing the arcs in a straight line? I know Luffy doesn't really seem dark here, but my reasoning is, it doesn't matter since he only came to see a friend's son and possibly recruit him. If you guys do have any thoughts on what their eventual ship should look like, leave it in the reviews! Bionic-TitanX out!


	8. Cocoyashi Village

A/N: So school is back, but I'm gonna try to still update. Wish me luck! **Read the A/N at the end!**

* * *

"Arlong." Luffy repeated the name. "One of Jinbei's 'subordinates.' He's someone that I absolutely disdain!"

Luffy curled his hands up into fists.

"I was never allowed to touch him since he was a Warlord's lackey, but I'm on the other side of the law now. He'll get all that's coming to him...as soon as I find out where he is."

Nami looked to him in awe. Her heart started beating rapidly. Was it possible? Was it honestly possible that someone would bring Arlong's reign of tyranny to an end? But wait. He also mentioned something about finding out his location.

"I can help you with the navigations. After all, I'm pretty much the best navigator in the East Blue!" Nami stated proudly.

Luffy smirked and leaned on the railings of the ship.

"Tell me Nami. If I were to defeat Arlong, what would I gain from it? I don't do anything for others unless it benefits me and the ones closest to me."

Nami deflated hearing this and began to ponder before snapping her fingers.

"Well, if you could defeat Arlong, I'll swear my allegiance to you and you only. You'll have the best navigator on your crew."

Luffy thought about it for a second before shaking his head.

"Nope! Not good enough!"

"What else could you possibly want?!" Nami cried in desperation.

He was probably her best bet at bringing freedom to her village. She couldn't afford to lose him now. Not after seeing how much power he displayed while she was trying to escape from the Buggy pirates.

"Hmm. Do you know anyone who can craft ships?"

Nami nodded.

"Yeah. There's a couple back at my village. Now, will you defeat Arlong for me?!"

"Where to?"

"Cocoyashi village."

"Directions?"

Nami sighed only blaming herself considering he already mentioned it.

* * *

It took probably half the day, but they eventually made it to Nami's village. Zoro was excited. He wanted to test out his strength against some stronger opponents. Those Buggy pirates weren't even good enough for much of a warmup. Perhaps these Fishmen would be strong enough to give him a run for his money. He heard they were supposed to be 10 times stronger than the average human and there were supposed to be some swordsmen among the group. It would be interesting to fight them and sharpen his skills with the blade.

"So, I want the two of you to hide for a little while. I'll give you the signal to show up and fight the Arlong pirates. OK?"

Zoro was cleaning out his ear before looking back at her.

"Huh?"

"I'm not one to follow instructions to a T. At best, you'll probably get me waiting for 5 minutes before I get myself discovered by some Fishmen and I cause a commotion.

Nami facepalmed. Why'd she have to put the fate of her village into the hands of two bumbling idiots. Granted, they were pretty strong, but still.

"If you two end up causing any commotion, don't involve my name in it. Leave the villagers alone and only attack the Fishmen. Got it? Or else the deal is called off."

Luffy nodded as he and Zoro went off in their own directions. Well, Zoro was heading into the ocean but Nami turned him right back around. Luffy grabbed Zoro by the collar and dragged him into the village.

Nami headed off to Arlong Park. The place that only brought pain and suffering. This dastardly place. This hellhole! She could still remember when Arlong would drink until he was heavily drunk and grab on Nami forcing himself onto her. He would 'share' her with his other crewmates while forcing her sister to watch. If he wasn't drunk, she would spend days and nights in one room drawing up maps for Arlong. Blood, sweat, and tears being used in place of ink whenever she ran out since the bastard was too lazy to get her some more!

Today, she hoped, he would have a rude awakening upon him. She saw the Fishman making some business with one of those Marine captains. That two-faced mouse of the Marines. She hated the fact all Arlong had to do was bribe some of the Marines and they would turn a blind eye to all his actions. They would see him kill someone in one of the most brutal ways possible and all Arlong had to do was give a couple thousand berries and they'd pretend like Arlong was a saint.

When she first saw the Marines as a little kid, she had such hope in her heart. She thought this nightmare would finally end. She could finally have a life. Make her own decisions. Do what she wanted when she wanted. But no. Her heart dropped at the exchange of money and the sly grin on Arlong's face.

"Pleasure doing business with you." She remembered Arlong say.

She lost all her hope in the Marines that day. For the longest, she thought she was on her own. That she would have to buy back her home from Arlong. She did have just about enough to buy back her village so she had two options here. She could buy back her village with the money she's managed to gather over the years and if Arlong decided to go back on his promise, she could have the other pirates attack him and his crew. She knew they were strong, but she wasn't exactly sure how the two would stack up against a whole crew of Fishmen.

She was desperate and didn't think it through well enough, but she could probably sneak all the villagers on board the ship and escape. It would take a lot of squeezing and shoving, but it would be possible.

She made it onto the grounds of Arlong Park. The pale Fishman who guarded the entrance looked down at her with his arms crossed and a scowl formed on his face. His eyes narrowed at her.

"Oh. It's you Nami."

He uncrossed his arms.

"You're back early."

"I lost track of time and didn't want to find out I extended my time too long so I tried to get back as soon as possible." Nami explained.

This seemed to satisfy his curiosity as he escorted her to Arlong who was laughing and drinking to his heart's consent.

"OH! Nami! You're back early!"

Nami had a stone cold look on her face.

"I have the money." She said.

Arlong stopped his laughing and the room fell deadly silent. The tension in the air was so intense you could cut a butter knife through it.

"I...see. I'll have my men collect the money then.'

"I also stole a Marine ship and there's some money on there as well. That completes the payment required to buy back my people's freedom." Nami mentioned.

Arlong laughed.

"Alright then Nami. Once we get the money, we'll start packing."

"Good."

Nami left Arlong's sight breathing heavily. Her heart pounding. For a minute,it really did feel like a load was lifted off her chest, but at the same time, she remembered who she was doing business with. He could have been lying and plotting something against her just to keep her on his crew. She was apparently very valuable to Arlong and, knowing him, he'd be willing to do anything. He would find a loophole around just about anything. He always said he never broke promises and he was technically telling the truth. Only because of those loopholes.

He was cocky. Ever since he killed her mother, she wanted to be the one to kill him and wipe that cocky look off his face. She wanted him to receive the same pin and suffering she felt ten times over!

She walked into the village looking for Nojiko. They were sisters after all. Well, not blood sisters, but she was the only one she could trust in the entire village. Everyone else who saw her looked at her with glares. She gulped feeling the immense hatred but continued walking trying to find Nojiko's place. She could recuperate from her journey there.

She trudged towards the house as all the excitement, fear, pain, loss, and multiple other things began to catch up on her. Her breathing got heavier as she opened the door to the house only to be surprised at the guests who were inside.

"What are you two doing here?!" Nami hollered.

Nojiko walked out of the kitchen and saw Nami.

"Hey Nami. Are you OK? I'm surprised you came back so soon? Did anything go wrong?"

Nami calmed down a little from the initial shock, but she still wanted these two 'guests' out of the house. She didn't want her sister associating herself with people like them. They were monsters essentially hiding in human skin. You could go so far as to say they were human monsters! The one wearing the mask especially. He seemed to be hiding several secrets and hid it all underneath the mask. The strange abilities. The unusually high strength. At times this guy seemed to be extremely intelligent. Other times, he seemed to be as dumb as a brick.

She looked back to her sister.

"I'm fine Nojiko. It's just that I don't want these two here right now. I met them on my most recent voyage and they caused me to see some stuff. Although they've helped me so far, I don't want you to get involved with them. It took everything out of me to not go insane." She explained.

Nojiko just looked at her plainly unbelieving in her words.

"They've been well so far. I saw the swordsman over there take down a Fishman quite easily and I was curious about them. We talked. It eventually moved on to me inviting them to my house to continue our conversation about what they do."

Nami's eyebrows lowered and she glared at them.

"And what did they tell you?"

"They're pirates. They mentioned you at one point saying how you wanted them to take down Arlong for you and they obliged so long as you promised to join their crew and they'd get a remodeling of their ship."

Nami's heart stopped. Nojiko now knows too much. She was too late and her sister was dragged into their madness.

"I-I can explai-"

"I don't mind the fact you joined up with some other pirates to defeat Arlong. They don't appear to be corrupt like Arlong's crew, but the one in the mask. I'm sorry. What'd you say your name was?" Nojiko asked.

"Kaiser!" Luffy answered before going back to his rock paper scissors match with Zoro.

Nami sweat dropped seeing the guy that she feared so much at times just acting like a child right now.

"This Kaiser guy. He doesn't just want to become Pirate King. He wants to go even further and make the World Government crumble down to beneath his knees. More specifically, get rid of the Celestial Dragons and I couldn't help but agree with his reasoning. I mean, you've seen how they are. They can turn you into a slave or kill you and they'll get away with it. Turn you into a bride against your will and if you so much as touch them, you'll be put in Impel Down left to rot for the rest of your days."

Nami was speechless. He mentioned how he wanted to destroy the World Government, but he never mentioned how he specifically meant the Celestial Dragons. The idea was absurd, but it seemed like his unusual charm that he pulled out of nowhere sometimes managed to draw in her sister.

"Nojiko. Where are you going with all of this?"

"I'm saying that since you already believe these two fellows here are incredibly strong to the point you brought them here to our island to see if they could take down Arlong and the one named Kaiser has such an ambition, I may as well stick with him long enough to see what becomes of him."

"Are you implying what I think you're implying?"

Nojiko smiled shyly at Nami.

"I want to join his crew. That is. If he and his swordsman can defeat Arlong and his crew. The whole village would indefinitely be in his debt so it's the least I could do after all anyways."

Nami gripped her sister's shoulders intensely.

"Nojiko! This is not like you! You were always the more level-headed one between the two of us and what you're saying now sounds too unreasonable. Don't you know how dangerous these seas are?"

"And I've seen you go out to sea multiple times since we were little kids trying to collect as much treasure as possible in order to pay for the freedom of this isla-"

Before Nojiko could finish her sentence, the two sisters heard some commotion. Nojiko noticed a couple Marines beginning to swarm around the house and start to pull up her garden. The two sisters went to call out the Marines until they saw a rat faced Marine who seemed to be of a higher rank than the other Marines in the vicinity have a sly smile on his face and his arms crossed observing the other Marines do the laborious work of gathering the money.

As soon as he saw Nami though, his smile became even wider as he uncrossed his arms.

"What are you all doing?" Nami yelled angrily.

"Simply doing the job of the Marines. All of this money you've gathered is stolen money. The only reason I don't arrest you on the spot is because although you're harboring illegal money, you stole this money from pirates. We won't arrest you, but we will have to confiscate all of the money you've stolen over the years."

Nami was severely angered by his explanation. No one was supposed to know about the location of her treasure besides Nojiko and...Arlong! She knew it! She knew he'd go back on his deal!

She looked over to see some of the other Marines who were trying to bring back her treasure to their ship with absolute rage in her eyes. She went to attack one of them, but they ended up pulling out a gun on her preparing to shoot her. Nojiko intervened though as she tackled the younger girl to the ground as the gun shot at them.

Nojiko closed her eyes shut mentally preparing herself for the pain that was about to come, but she felt a gust of wind and a scream from someone else. She opened her eyes to see that the Marine who was going to shoot her was shot instead. She looked around to see that it was the one in the straw hat. D-Did he save her?

"I think that's enough." Luffy said.

The higher ranking Marine was angry right now. This stranger just injured one of his subordinates, causing them to spill all of that valuable treasure. Frankly, he couldn't care less about what happened to them. All he wanted was for them to get as much treasure on the ship as possible before the villagers appeared wondering what was happening.

Before he even got a chance to run at the person, several of the Marines ended up getting injured by a green-haired swordsman.

His eyes began to twitch seeing so many of his Marines getting defeated by some no names! Were all of them really that weak?! He tried to attack the men, but Luffy was having none of it. He grabbed the man's wrist, lifted him off the ground, and threw him over to the next side of the village. This lowly Marine wasn't worth his time.

"Nami," Luffy called out.

Nami looked up and observed the area. This was just like at Orange Town, except there was no explosion...yet. She was in awe at what the two could do to the Marines. They were so easily able to dispatch of the Marines that it seemed like child's play to them.

She focused her attention back on the straw hat wearing fellow now.

"So tell me. Is now a good time to go after Arlong?"

She opened her mouth and closed it with no words coming out. She tried a couple more times but no words continued to come out. Tears began to fall from her eyes as she saw how willing he was to help her in this sort of situation.

"H-Help me." Nami barely managed to speak.

"Very well then. Come on Zoro. We're going to fight some Fishmen!"

"Alright!" Zoro grinned widely.

As the two left to find Arlong, the villagers appeared outside of their homes looking towards the leaving presences of Luffy and Zoro. They were amazed at the peculiar abilities of Luffy and the strength of Zoro.

"Nami! Nojiko! Are you two alright?" A man with many scars around his body asked in concern.

He got on his knees and lifted the two off from the ground.

"We're fine Genzo. Just a couple of scrapes from the fall." Nami replied.

"Yeah. It could have been a lot worse if those two guys weren't here," Nojiko explained.

Nami wiped away her tears as she was standing up again and sniffled. Genzo turned to face the crowd.

"It seems like they're going to face Arlong. Let's go help them and reclaim our village!" Genzo yelled.

The villagers all agreed giving a form of war cry as they gathered their weapons they had in hiding.

"Arlong has gone back on his promise and sold us out to the Marines. Enough with this pain and suffering already!"

Nami looked at Genzo in shock. Genzo looked back to Nami with a sympathetic look on his face.

"We've known all along about the deal you made with Arlong. Since the very beginning when you joined Arlong's crew as a little girl."

Nami tried to stop the villagers from going to attack Arlong, but her efforts were futile as they charged towards Arlong Park."

* * *

A/N: I wanted to finish this arc in one chapter, but I realized by the end that that's not going to work so 2 chapters it is then! I know that this was kind of fast-paced but I'm still trying to improve. You guys can give your fair criticism and when it comes onto the mask, the next chapter is when Luffy loses the mask. I could have had him lose it this chapter, but I want to have a cooler and more dramatic exit for the mask.

It seems only one person responded about what the ship should look like and while it's interesting, I'd like a few more suggestions from other people about what the ship should look like.

I'm not spilling any beans about what'll happen to Usopp.

As for Nojiko, she probably was out of character and I apologize for that.

I think that's about it for Author Notes.


	9. Murder

A/N: New chapter baby! **Read the A/N at the end.**

*Line*

"Humans. Get lost before we-"

The random Fishman guarding the entrance to Arlong Park didn't even get to finish speaking before Zoro slashed him apart. Luffy smirked underneath his mask seeing his first mate already taking charge. He turned when he started to hear some commotion though. When he did, he was surprised to see what he was seeing. It was a giant crowd of people. Presumably the Cocoyashi villagers. Only thing was that he wasn't sure if they were there to help in their endeavors or to stop them considering they were technically also villains in their eyes. People who just appeared on their island one day and started causing trouble. Probably thinking they would be just as bad as the Arlong pirates and they wanted to just nip them in the butt before they became too big of an issue.

He couldn't blame them for their thinking honestly. It was pretty logical thinking. Still though. Even if they were there to help, they weren't nearly strong enough to make much of a difference. In fact, they'd possibly even get in the way.

"Zoro. I'm going to block off the entryway. I don't want them getting in the way of this fight."

Zoro looked at his captain grinning from ear to ear nodding his head in approval.

"Agreed. No one else here needs to get involved."

As soon as the two walked through the entrance, Luffy summoned two air blasts hitting the two pillars next to the entrance. The strength behind the pressure was enough to cause the pillars to topple on each other crushing the entrance gate and creating enough rubble to block the crowd's entryway.

Everyone was left shocked by this. Luffy didn't even look back. They didn't even see him punch anything and Zoro didn't even slash the pillars. They were confused by why exactly the pillars all of a sudden fell apart like that and it was confusing to say the least. Quite a few were even thinking that this was possibly Luffy's power. Some were trying to climb though.

While the villagers were in the middle of finding a way around the rubble, Luffy clenched his fists. He gritted his teeth charging up his power. His heart was racing right now. He never liked this Arlong buffoon but he could never touch him since he was technically Jinbei's subordinate. At least, he could never touch him when he was a Marine. Things were different now though. Now, he could truly test the strength of this cocky bastard.

Zoro was already slashing at multiple of the Fishmen. Luffy helped out with a couple as well, but he was conserving most of his energy for Arlong. It was almost sad how easy it was to take down all of them honestly. These Fishmen were the same ones always boasting about how they were 10 times stronger than humans but one key detail they always neglected was that they were only 10 times stronger than the **average **human. **Not **humans like him and Zoro. They were not average in the slightest.

This made him almost burst out laughing thinking this. Oh, it was going to be highly entertaining for Luffy. He hoped that Arlong had gotten at least a little stronger. Maybe even knowing Armament Haki. It would make the fight slightly more interesting. Slightly more entertaining. If he was actually stronger than when he first met the Fishman, it could be better for the quickly approaching fight.

If not, Arlong would simply be a way for him to vent. He'd be his punching bag the whole time. Leave any Fishmen remaining discouraged from fighting on any longer. Give up their resolve and depending on Nami's own decisions considering how she had to suffer basically her whole childhood working for the Fishmen, their leader would either live or kick the bucket. Heck. He'd even beat Arlong to an inch of his life to make it easier for Nami to kill him. He wouldn't kill the Fishman himself. He'd instead give Nami a knife.

Slit the Fishman's throat. Stab him in the heart. Anything she honestly wanted to do. It was her decision here. He wouldn't force her to kill him. Simply let her vent. Get out everything she had to hide and store up over all these years. Only if she wanted to that is.

He stopped walking a couple minutes later though. He looked up to see a ticked off Arlong. He wanted to laugh, but held it in.

"Hey! Are you Arlong?!" Luffy yelled.

This really set Arlong off. These guys stormed into his base. They took down several of his men and now this one in the mask was asking who he was! He wanted to rip this one's skeleton right out of his body.

"Yeah! And who do you think you are storming into my base like you own the base?" Arlong answered.

Luffy couldn't hold it in anymore. He burst out laughing.

"What do you think you're laughing for?" Arlong inquired.

"It's hard to take someone as weak as you seriously. Even 4 years back, you were weak. I was able to knock you out in one punch. I want to see if you've gotten any stronger Arlong so I'll give you 5 free hits in order to gauge your current strength. To see if you've gotten any stronger or weaker."

That was a lie. He wanted to see if he at least learned Haki. Sure, but that wasn't the actual point. He wanted to prove a point. That point being Arlong's stagnancy would come to bite him in the butt. He would humiliate Arlong here. He'd make him fear him. Show him just how small he was in the grand scope of things. He was not strong. He was incredibly weak and he'd shove that knowledge into him. And he was going to absolutely humiliate him here. He was going to enjoy every moment of his humiliation.

"HOW DARE YOU?! HOW DARE YOU WALK INTO MY BASE AND START TALKING BOLD LIKE YOU OWN THE PLACE?! WHO DO YOU THINK YOU ARE CHALLENGING ME LIKE THAT?!"

"Fight me and find out. I gave out enough information already." Luffy responded cockily.

This cockiness in Luffy's voice only served to infuriate Arlong even further than before. He leaped off his throne with a punch ready for the teen. Luffy crossed his arms not moving. Arlong thought it would connect considering the boy stood in place. Sure enough, the punch did connect with the boy's head, but he didn't budge an inch. Arlong laughed a bit nervously.

"That's one." Luffy counted boredly.

Luffy was honestly expecting more force from that punch. Seemed like Arlong really did get weaker from the last time the two met.

"Sh-Shut up you filthy human!" Arlong stuttered out.

Arlong kicked Luffy in his leg hoping to shatter it, but it only seemed to have the inverse effect. It seemed like he broke his leg from that kick. That punch of his also stung. It was as if he was attacking some extremely hard metal. This wasn't something he was used to. This guy should have been down for the count already, but here he was. Still standing. With his arms crossed. As if he was looking down on him. Who did he think he was?!

A sudden rage was ignited. It was as if his rage was a fire. At first, it was like a burning house. Dangerous if left unattended most definitely, but now it was like a wildfire. He wanted to kill this man no matter what. Not even if he begged for forgiveness would he let him survive even if it was by the inch of his life. He wanted to see this man suffer. Feel as much pain as possible before he killed him. Well, that's what he wanted. Fate had something different in mind.

"Take this!"

Arlong ignored the pain in his body and went to punch Luffy directly in the face. Luffy smirked as he felt his mask begin to break apart. Oh well. That mask honestly served him no purpose anyways. Well, besides looking cool. Surely Arlong would recognize him now.

"How do you like that?!" Arlong yelled as he removed his fist from Luffy's face.

Arlong had a cocky smile on his face thinking he severely wounded Luffy, but he was shocked to see the boy's smirk. No damage whatsoever this boy took. At best, it was his mask that seemed to actually take damage. He managed to make the mask crumble from the force of his blow.

He could see what the guy looked like now and a sudden realization dawned on him. Now everything began to make more sense. Monkey D Luffy. The boy who humiliated him all those years ago.

He tightened his fists. He was definitely going to pay. He wasn't going to let this boy die now. Not yet. He'd be sure to torture him after this fight. Make him wish he was dead. Make him wish he never went against the Arlong pirates.

"That's three!"

Luffy was enjoying this. Arlong's punches felt like that of a baby trying to hit a grown man. Hardly even notice it. Arlong appeared to be trying so hard yet everything was ineffective.

The Fishman was breathing heavily before he charged at Luffy.

"You're the worst one of them all Luffy!"

He grabbed Luffy by the shoulders and headbutted him. Any normal person's skull would've been cracked open by now, but Luffy was more resilient than the average man and Arlong knew it. That's why he proceeded to bite into his neck hoping to shed some blood...He got his wish.

Luffy's smirk fell from his face. He actually felt that a little. A sort of sensation dripped down his neck. He lifted his hand to wipe it off and see what it was. Blood. Huh. He wasn't expecting that but it didn't particularly matter. He looked back up to Arlong with a dispassionate look on his face.

"All that...for a drop of blood."

Arlong felt pretty confident now that he was able to at least injure Luffy. Something he could never hope to do that oh so many years ago. He had a bit of a cocky smirk on his face that disappeared as soon as he heard his words.

"You've used up your 5 free attacks Arlong. I would say I congratulate you for just barely piercing my skin, but it took everything out of you to do so. Now, it's time to show you where exactly you are on the world hierarchy."

Luffy vanished from Arlong's presence as a gust of wind passed. All of a sudden, Arlong felt a sharp pain in his abdomen area causing him to reel over in pain. A horrible mistake. Before Arlong even knew what happened, he felt two feet slam down on his back. Arlong gasped in pain. Next, he was uppercut. The punch was strong enough to shatter his teeth. That wasn't the end of the onslaught though. He heard these words next.

"I'll give you the courtesy of getting pummeled down by some of my **named **attacks." Luffy spoke elegantly.

"Kaze Kaze Rapid fire!" Luffy yelled.

Rather than a big dramatic show of power like the name of the attack would entail, Luffy simply pointed his fingers at Arlong like a gun and Arlong's right arm was pierced. Then his left arm. Suddenly, Arlong's whole body was being shot. No part of Arlong's body was safe from this onslaught of invisible bullets. By the time Luffy was finished, Arlong looked comparable to swiss cheese. Luffy had an emotionless look. His eyes were so cold to Arlong you could practically say he was dead. Yes. That would be an appropriate way of describing Luffy's behavior right now. He was dead inside.

"I even made sure to avoid the vital organs. Guess you still couldn't take that much damage. Dang."

Luffy saw Arlong collapse bleeding heavily and he simply shook his head turning around only to see Nami with a shocked look in her eyes. He handed her a knife. He whispered to her.

"If you want, you can deal the final blow. You can stab him in the heart. Slit his throat. Anything. It's all up to you Nami. Regardless, he's going to die. It just depends on whether you want to be the one to completely finish him. Make him die to the person he's had suffer for all their life or let him have the luxury of bleeding out from an opponent he was fully aware was far above his level. Let him keep a little bit of his pride or completely shatter it. It's all your decision Nami dear." Luffy whispered to her.

It didn't take too much more convincing on Luffy's part as he saw Nami charge over to Arlong's dying body and lift him by the head. She had a crazed but teary look in her eyes as she began to stab him endlessly in the heart.

"This is for your lies! This is for your cruelty! This is for all the years you had me drawing maps for you while my hands bled! This is for all the deceit I had to show to my people for the longest! This is for all the times you...you...you abused me!"

Nami was stabbing Arlong excessively now. Everyone was watching. Even Zoro turned to watch her.

"Should we, um, stop her?" Zoro asked Luffy.

Luffy shook his head.

"No. She needs this moment." He answered.

"And this last one is for my mother!" Nami screamed slitting Arlong's throat.

If Arlong hadn't already bled out already, he surely did now. The Fishman stopped breathing a long time ago. After the first couple of stabs. Now, she was just stabbing at a corpse. Sobbing furiously. Two parts really stood out to Luffy. The first being how Arlong abused her. At first he thought she was referring to what she said before about Arlong forcing her to work for him, but this seemed to be different. She trembled when saying it. Her breathing patterns were even more uneven than before.

He'd seen this too many times before. During his time in the Navy, he'd always have to fight pirates who were pillaging, kidnapping, and many other things. Sometimes the kidnapping accelerated to something even further. Sometimes they were slaves. Sometimes they were prostitutes. Sometimes they were sex slaves. Sometimes they were raped by the crewmembers on the pirate ships. She seemed to fit into one of these categories.

Not only that, but she brought up her mother. He...never knew his mother and it sounded like she was really attached to her mother. He didn't know what Arlong did to her mother, but it must've been highly severe for her to react in the way she did slitting his throat instead of just continuously stabbing him. He almost felt bad for the way the Fishman died...Almost.

"Alright. Now we should stop her."

Zoro walked forward and grabbed Nami's arm. The one holding the knife. He stared at her with some softness to them.

"I think...that's enough." He said.

Nami looked back at Zoro crying immensely. All of this pain she felt throughout her life. Finally gone. She looked back at the corpse of Arlong. She supposed he had a point. She did just continuously attack someone's corpse. Even if it was Arlong, it was the same as kicking a dead horse.

It felt like a burden was lifted. She couldn't help but cry. Her vision was getting blurry from all the crying too. She cried into Zoro's chest.

Zoro looked back at his captain as he was awkwardly patting Nami. He mouthed out a help to him. Luffy sighed and walked over doing his best to comfort her.

*Line*

Several days had passed. The main reason Luffy and Zoro hadn't already left with Nami was because the ship they were using was deconstructed by some of the shipwrights as instructed by Luffy. He wanted to have a large ship. Sort of like those Marine battleships albeit more on the smaller side. He wanted to have several crewmembers. Soldiers if you will. The only problem was...the keel couldn't accommodate the size of the ship Luffy wanted. At least, that's what the shipwrights said. He wasn't quite sure how true that was, but so long as the ship was built, he'd be fine.

The villagers also threw Luffy and Zoro a grand party while they were waiting for the ship to be completed. It surely did help them to be more patient for the time being. Luffy was consuming several meats. He didn't care if they were pork chops, sausage, ham, or anything. So long as it was meat, he would consume it. Zoro was the same, but with booze. He didn't care if it was liquor, whiskey, or sake. Anything that could get him drunk, he'd drink it.

By the time the ship was finally finished, Luffy was beginning to feel a bit burned out from all the partying. The completed ship left the crewmates gawking.

"So, what do you think?" The shipwright asked.

Luffy looked at the shipwright with ham in one hand. He dropped it on the floor as he also dropped to his knees.

"I-It's even better than I could imagine."

The ship was quite large. It could hold several people probably. Perhaps he could have up to 100 or more crewmates with how large this ship was.

The ship had several cannons all around the sides. The ship was painted black and purple around the sides. It wasn't completely black and purple, but they were in the form of stripes. The figurehead was what interested him the most. It was two small mermaids holding a skull. He wanted to call these mermaids sirens instead though. The ship had 2 masts. The sails were also purple and black.

Once done admiring the ship, Luffy got back up off his knees and whistled.

"That's a mighty fine ship there! Great work!" Luffy exclaimed happily as he boarded the ship.

He expected Nami and Nojiko to show up, but he was surprised to see several people with bags and weapons gather around the ship. He was honestly quite confused.

"So...what are you guys doing?"

"W-We want to join you!" One man yelled.

Luffy nodded.

"So what are you guys waiting for? If you want to join my crew, hop on aboard. Just be warned. It's not going to be all fun and games while aboard this ship. If you're not ready to wake up at the bone crushing hours of dawn doing some of the harshest training while the air is thin, then I'd suggest you think again about your decisions."

Zoro smirked hearing his captain say these words. The life of a pirate wasn't easy and he was weeding out the weaklings among them. He could see some of them waver and back down. Others had a stone cold face as they boarded the ship. He saw Nojiko among them.

The two were wondering where Nami was though.

"Start the ship!" A familiar voice screamed.

Next thing the group knew, they saw Nami running shoving and making her way through the multiple villagers that were just trying to tell her goodbye. Luffy snorted at her behavior. When she leaped onto the ship, Luffy burst out laughing as she revealed she stole everyone's money. It seemed that she was in a brighter mood now since the death of Arlong and he was glad to see it, but he still planned on talking to her later about some things that he noticed back there. It was bugging his mind for the longest.

A/N: And the Arlong arc is over with! Let's go! So, Arlong's dead. That's interesting. And the mask is gone too! I know plenty of you are happy about that. We got a new ship and when I mentioned the stripes, basically imagine the ones on Shank's ship but in that color way I mentioned. Let me know what role Nojiko should take up. That, and what the jolly roger should look like because I'm not allowing the original since it won't match up with this different version of Luffy. I suck at writing fight scenes too which is why the fight ended so quickly. I'll go further into Nami's and Luffy's past in later chapters, but for now, it's like 2:30 in the morning and I'm tired. Good night.


	10. The Floating Restaurant

A/N: Hey everyone! Because we're still in the East Blue saga, I've come to the decision to focus on wrapping up the saga in the next couple of chapters. That and my YouTube channel of course, but let's get on with the chapter. Subscribe to CNTRL Realities and King TitanX on YouTube.

* * *

"So, how come all of you guys suck at drawing?" Luffy questioned.

They were trying to make a flag for themselves. Luffy had already tried making one, but it was mediocre at best...for a child. Everyone ended up trying their hand at making a jolly roger flag for the crew, but nothing seemed to satisfy Luffy. It slightly frustrated him too.

"Please. Forgive us captain, but while we were under Arlong's rule, we feared too much for our lives to ever really practice drawing, especially with what happened to Nami. If Arlong ever caught the eye of someone with good enough artistic skills, he'd probably put us in the same position," One person explained.

Satisfied with the explanation, Luffy huffed and walked away. He saw Nami watering her tree with such a sweet, peaceful smile on her face. It was the polar opposite of what happened back in her home village. He figured now was as good of a time as ever to ask her about it.

"Nami."

"Hm?" She hummed looking back to Luffy.

"About what happened back there with Arlong. A couple of things caught my attention."

"You mean besides the numerous stabbings I gave Arlong?" Nami tried to joke.

Luffy nodded.

"Besides that. What you spoke back there. You mentioned abuse and it seems to have been different from how you were forced to work for him. The way you trembled while saying it. There's more to the story, isn't there?"

Nami curled up her fists for a second. Something that didn't get past Luffy. She sighed.

"Yeah. You're right. Simply put, he was a devil. When I just joined, most of his crew would look to me with disgust. Some would harass me endlessly and when I told Arlong, guess what he did? Absolutely nothing! NO! It would have been better if he did nothing! He would slap, bite, claw, essentially always harm me for going to him about the way his crew treated me talking about how I was a human and I deserved it all. Told me to get back to drawing maps if I knew what was good for me."

Luffy hearing this had flashbacks. Flashbacks to him training under Akainu. His eye twitched for a second. Now it was his turn to sigh.

"I should have killed him the first time I met him."

Nami looked at him with a questioning look on her face.

"I'll explain it to you later."

Nami slightly nodded and continued to speak.

"Well, as time went by, he seemingly started becoming nicer to me. Even letting me go out on these sort of 'adventures' in order to collect more beris in order to speed up the progress on paying for the island. Well, that was until he was drunk one day. He laughed at me talking about how he'd never let me go. I didn't want to believe it. I chalked it up to him just saying things because he was drunk, but in the back of my mind, I had a feeling that what he said was true. That I'd never free my village. My home!"

She started tearing up.

"Then, he grabbed me and...and forced himself onto me! The beast that killed my mother. Albeit we weren't blood related, but she was the only person I could ever call mom. I couldn't believe the fact that the same one who violated me taking away one of the most precious things to me also killed my mother. The whole time, the memories of him killing my mother played back in my mind. After that, I could never forget. Arlong was a monster and I wanted to kill him in the most horrific ways possible."

Luffy folded his hands together and remained silent. They were in complete silence for a couple seconds before Luffy stretched out his arm pulling her into a hug.

"Nami, I promise you that as long as you stay loyal to me and the crew, I'll make sure this will never happen to you again. If I do fail, I'll kill all who dare do such a thing to you," Luffy whispered making Nami wail hearing this.

Luffy simply patted her on her back in order to help comfort her.

It took a while, but Nami managed to sober up. It felt good to finally release it all. Just to talk to somebody about it.

Suddenly, the crew noticed a Marine ship sail next to them. A man wearing a pinstriped suit with fairly well kempt hair looked at the crew of pirates with disdain.

"What are you all? Pirates?" He asked cockily.

"Yeah! And what's it to ya?!" One of the crewmates answered.

"Oh? And you don't even have a jolly roger? When did you guys start being pirates? Yesterday?" He mocked.

This angered some of the crew. Before any others could respond though, Luffy shut them down.

"That's enough you all!" He stated.

"Hmm? And who may you be? The captain of this ship?"

"Yep! And I don't appreciate you talking bad about my crew."

"Oh? What are you filthy pirates going to do about it? Do you know who I am? I am Captain Fullbody of the Marines!"

Luffy chuckled hearing this causing Fullbody's face to redden.

"Hey! What's so funny?!" He yelled.

"Oh nothing. Just that you think your position means anything to me. Tell me, do I not look the slightest bit familiar?" Luffy asked.

Luffy couldn't care if he was revealing his identity anymore. There was no point anymore. He had a crew and it was more a matter of getting them stronger as time went by rather than gathering them in the first place. Not only that, but it was more likely than not that the World Government was already in the process of putting a bounty on his only reason the government probably didn't put one on his head earlier was probably because they thought he was dead and they didn't inform the lower ranks of the Marines considering how unimportant it would be.

Now, there was no doubt about it in the World Government's eyes. He was alive and therefore still a threat. That rat faced man most likely informed the government as well. With all that in mind, Luffy had nothing to fear here.

The man growled at Luffy until he got a good look at him. A sudden realization popped into his head.

"Monkey D. Luffy! Haha! The black sheep of the Marines. Always standing out from the rest and now look at ya! You became a lowly pirate! You're a disgrace to the Marines and we even got a bounty for you!"

One of the lower ranked Marines walked forward with a bounty poster in his hands. It showed Luffy's face with part of it being obscured by either the crumbling mask or wind picking up dust. Luffy smirked seeing the picture given for him. At least the newspapers knew how to take good pictures. Then, he saw the bounty. 80 million berries. He lost his smirk after that. He knew it would've been a lot higher if it weren't for the fact he was in the East Blue. Even if he was in Paradise, the bounty they'd give him wouldn't be accurate.

"You see that? You're a criminal now and if I can either detain or end you, then that'll look mighty good in the eyes of the Navy. So you know what? Men! Shoot 'em down!" Fullbody ordered.

The men did as he ordered, but Luffy sighed. He must've not known of his abilities for him to make such a dumb decision like that. Probably one of the worst decisions he could ever make in this sort of situation. He would see right now. Right here.

As soon as the cannonballs shot at their ship, Luffy simply blew them back at twice the force, immediately sinking their ship. Fullbody's shocked expression caused Luffy to giggle. Fullbody underestimated Luffy and he got what he deserved because of it. He could hear him yell in anger, but Luffy simply ignored it in favor of hearing his stomach growl. He looked down at his stomach and then turned to his crew.

"Hey! So, um, do we still have any more food rations left?" He asked, rubbing the back of his head.

The whole crew had deadpan expressions on their face before they all yelled about him eating most of it already. The remainders were what the crew ended up consuming.

"Well, does anyone know a place where we can stock back up on food then?"

This is when Nojiko spoke up.

"Well, my dearest Nami here told me about there being this floating restaurant that served amazing food. The restaurant was also in the shape of a fish. Neither of us have ever been there ourselves though. Mainly just rumors that we heard."

Some of the others in the crew shook their heads in agreement. Some of the older ones even mentioning how they'd tried the food there themselves before Arlong took over. The food was spectacular, but it appeared they were still in their beginning stages as there were no more than two chefs there when trying out the food. They could only imagine how they were now. From the sounds of it, the Baratie really took off from the last time they were there.

Luffy's mouth watered hearing this. He quickly rose the Marine ship out of the water. It was encased in a giant orb of air and Luffy simply collected all of their treasure before flinging it back down to the ocean depths. He turned back to his crew with a smile on his face.

"Where can I find this wonderful restaurant?" Luffy inquired.

No one could tell him...because the few that did have a chance at tasting the food hadn't been there in years. Luffy ended up just using a mix of Observation Haki and wind currents in order to help guide the crew over to what he thought was the restaurant. He wasn't too efficient in his fusion of the two abilities, but he figured it would've been worth a shot. They ended up encountering two people on an island though.

One of the two appeared to be sick though. The other was trying to treat him, but wasn't doing too good of a job at doing so.

The caretaker turned to face the pirates and tried waving his sword at them telling them to stay back. It was hard to tell if he was glaring at them considering he was wearing sunglasses, but judging from the rest of his facial features and the fact he was telling them to stay back, it was safe to assume he was in fact glaring. Luffy raised an eyebrow at this man's antics.

He seemed to be trying to protect the other one who seemed severely ill. He could respect that he guessed. He didn't really care too much though. His main concern though was whether or not they knew where to find this Baratie restaurant.

"Hey! Do you know where we can find the Baratie restaurant?" Luffy asked.

The guy looked dumbfounded by Luffy's question. He ended up even looking at Luffy funny and lowering his sword.

"So, you guys aren't here to rob and kill us?" He asked.

Luffy shook his head in the negative.

"None of us would benefit from that. Oh, and your friend has Scurvy. Hop aboard and we can treat him properly. It's a relatively common and recognizable illness. Pretty common knowledge. Easily avoidable," Luffy explained.

The tan man in the sunglasses looked understandably hesitant to take up Luffy's offer. It was until Zoro stepped up to see what was going on that the mood changed drastically. The man's mouth widened in shock.

"Big bro Zoro!" He yelled.

Zoro looked down from the ship and his eyes widened in recognition.

"Johnny? Yosaku?" He questioned.

"Hey big bro! What are you doing on a pirate ship?!" Johnny asked.

"I'm a pirate now," He answered.

"You know these guys?" Luffy whispered.

Zoro nodded explaining how when he was still a bounty hunter, he'd been on a couple 'adventures' with them. He didn't know where the big bro title came from especially after finding out Zoro was actually younger than the two of them. Luffy shrugged not understanding the logic behind the title either.

Some of the crew members helped the two up the ship and went on to treat Yosaku's Scurvy. He immediately jumped up full of energy as if he was completely cured after they stuffed him with fruits full of Vitamin C. Nami was the one to actually yell at them telling them that's not how it worked. No one makes such a fast recovery, but they didn't listen.

"Oh, by the way. The question you asked earlier about Baratie. We know where to locate the restaurant. They make amazing fo-"

"DON'T finish that sentence. Just give us the directions," Luffy interrupted.

The whole crew could hear his stomach growl. He looked down at his stomach in a pitiful look.

After finally making it to the Baratie, they found Fullbody soaking wet and smashed down into the floor of the restaurant. Luffy whistled in delight seeing this, but didn't focus on it for too long. The crew looked around until they found a couple of available tables. Luffy then looked around to see if anyone was going to serve them until a blonde man wearing a suit with a cigar in his mouth walked over to the center table. Luffy's table.

"Are you going to be our waiter for today?" Luffy asked.

Nami wanted to say something, but was interrupted by the blonde man.

"No. I'm the assistant chef here, but we currently have a shortage of employees so I had to fill in," He sighed. "Anyways, what do you all want to eat?"

"Well, I'll have meat!" Luffy cheered.

"Uh huh. Could you be more specific?"

"Uh...Nami. Zoro. Nojiko. You guys order ahead of me while I think more on what's there to eat. For the rest of the crew, all of you write down what you want in order to not give our chef unnecessary trouble."

Everybody began to start writing down what they wanted to eat, but the blonde cook wasn't paying any attention to the rest of the crew right now. He had his eyes set on Nami and Nojiko. He had heart eyes right now.

"H-How could I have let such beauty pass my gaze?! It's like I'm looking at two goddesses right here!"

"Hey! Waiter!" Zoro called.

Zoro went unnoticed though ticking him off.

"Hey!" He yelled.

"What do you want Moss Head?" The blonde mocked.

Zoro grew a tick mark on his forehead hearing this. He was about to get up out of his seat and give this guy a piece of his mind, but Luffy was able to see this from a mile away.

"Stand down Zoro," Luffy commanded before looking at the chef. "Hey. Look. Chef, may I get your name? I don't want to keep calling you chef. And I've also figured out what I want to eat too. Same for the rest of the crew. We're all very hungry. Especially the girls you ogle at. We haven't eaten in days thanks to those Marines stealing our food. We were able to fight them off and keep our money, but the food fell into the sea."

Everyone on the crew knew Luffy was lying about the Marines part, but it managed to get the cook sympathetic enough to cry a little.

"Poor ladies. I didn't consider how hungry they must be. For you gals, the food is on the house!"

"Sweet! Can the rest of us-"

"NO! Also my name's Sanji."

Luffy wanted to say something, but he held his tongue. Don't bite the hand that feeds.

Sanji collected everyone's orders as he went back into the kitchen.

While waiting, they all broke into a bit of a conversation. It all stopped when a new person arrived at the restaurant who was looking worse for wear. Everybody stared at him in silence. He simply walked over to the last empty table and sat down with his feet on the table.

A Popeye the Navy man knockoff walked out of the kitchen with the fakest smile on his face and over to the rough looking man. He rubbed his hands together.

"Why hello there sea scum! How do you intend to pay for your meal today?"

They answered by whipping out a gun and pointing it to the other's face.

"Do you accept lead?"

They held that same grin on their face.

"So I'm guessing you don't have any method of payment. Very well!"

He smashed the table and clobbered the disgruntled man who already seemed to be on his last legs. This was just kicking a man when he was down. Not that Luffy had any qualms about it, but he hadn't seen the guy do much so he couldn't say anything. The guy ended up getting kicked out of the restaurant while everyone, excluding his crew, cheered. Luffy just looked on in curiosity. What could this guy have possibly done to deserve such treatment?

He'd focus on that later though. Right now, Sanji and a couple of other people came out of the kitchen with their food. Luffy rubbed his hands greedily as he prepared to dig into his food. Everyone cheered in delight at how delicious the food was, but something else was bugging Luffy.

"Hey, Sanji. Could you explain to me what happened to that Marine with the pink hair over there?"

"Oh. Simply put. That guy insulted my cooking and threw it on the floor so I kicked him upside the noggin in order to teach him a lesson about wasting food."

"You really pride yourself on your cooking, don't you?"

"You know it!"

"For someone so prideful in their cooking, I'd imagine it's either that good or it's that good to your taste buds."

"Oh? Well how would you rate that food you're eating right now? On a scale of 1-10?"

"Hm. I'd give it an 11!"

"Well, there's all the evidence you need. After all, you are tasting my cooking. The whole lot of you are."

Hearing this left Luffy thinking for a second. If what this guy said is true, that meant he could cook, fight, and make witty comebacks! All that he wanted in a cook!

"I've decided!"

"Decided what?"

"That you're going to be my crew's new cook!"

"I refuse."

"I refuse your refusal!"

"Wha-? You know what? Never mind. I'm not dealing with this."

Sanji was about to walk away, but stopped when Luffy said one more thing.

"Oh, I get it. You're secretly into men, but hide it with excessive flirting towards girls. Face it. Your hormones would go crazy if surrounded by objectively easy on the eye men," Luffy laughed.

Sanji's face turned red with fury hearing this.

"That's the dumbest thing I've ever heard! I love women and women only. Matter of fact, I'll prove it and join your stinking crew in order to see more pretty ladies!"

Luffy grinned widely.

"Welcome aboard!"

Sanji paused with sudden realization going through his head.

"Wait! You tricked me! I'm not leaving here!"

"Nope. Too late Sanji. You already agreed and we already packed your bags too!"

"Come on Zeff!"

Zeff just shook his head in the negative.

"As for your last task, you can go feed the man outside."

Sanji wanted to say something else, but he stopped himself and left back into the kitchen before coming back with an average sized plate of food.

* * *

Pirates were here. They were coming and they were going to kill everyone he knew and loved. He couldn't afford to have that happen. When he first heard the conversation between Klahadore, now known as Captain Kuro of the Black Cat pirates, and that weird hypnotist guy called Jango he knew he was in trouble. Thankfully he wasn't spotted by the two of them. It gave him enough time to prepare for the scoundrels.

Usopp figured they wouldn't meet back at the same location. Too obvious so the best option was to set up the traps on the other side of the island. The only other way for anyone to enter the island without any special techniques.

He had a feeling his traps and slingshot weren't going to be enough in this fight though. During the night, he grabbed a box from underneath his bed. A gift from dad that he'd finally put to use.

* * *

A/N: 3,500 words baby! XD I think it's obvious what's in the box and I hope you all don't mind, but I'm going to legit skip the whole rest of the fights as they are pretty much the same as in canon. At least the major fights anyway. The only ones I'll probably focus on are Zoro V Mihawk and Luffy v Krieg. I don't know why I'm calling them fights though.


	11. The Boy Who Cried Pirate

A/N: Hey everyone! Because we're still in the East Blue saga, I've come to the decision to focus on wrapping up the saga in the next couple of chapters. That and my YouTube channel of course, but let's get on with the chapter. **Read the bottom A/N at the end as well.**

Luffy saw the pathetic excuse of a man just trying to uppercut Sanji after he just fed him. He quickly got up out of his seat and immediately got in between the two. He grabbed Krieg's fist squeezing it hard.

"Huh? Who are you? Eh, it doesn't matter. Anyways, I'm taking over this ship you see? No pirate would expect a rival crew to appear on the grandline in a ship like-"

"No," Luffy said.

"D-Did you just interrup-"

"Yes."

"How dare you? Do you know who I a-"

"I don't care. All I know is that you tried to bite the hand that feeds. Someone who could have easily killed you in your sorry state. They fed you when everyone else was against it because you promised to leave the people here alone, but what did you do instead? Try and attack. Try to take over their ship. And for what? What was the reason?"

You could see Don Krieg's anger really show by the amount of pulsing veins appearing around his temple area.

"We were unprepared for the grandline. We ended up losing all but one of our ships. Our flagship. That's why we need this ship in order to-"

Luffy chuckled a little.

"What's so funny? Huh?!"

Luffy's chuckle exploded into a fit of laughter. Enough to make him cry. Krieg tried punching him, but Luffy grabbed the fist and squeezed it hard enough to make Krieg wince in pain.

"Oh, it's nothing. It's just funny how you struggled in Paradise."

"Paradise?"

Luffy nodded.

"Yeah. There's two parts to the grandline. The first part of the grandline is called Paradise. It's called that because in comparison to the other side of the grandline, it's like a paradise. The fact you already struggled in the grandline while in Paradise tells me it's not about the fact you didn't plan out things well. It's that you were too weak."

"I'm the strongest in the East Bl-"

"Strongest of the weakest sea. That means nothing to the rest of the seas. I've been to the New World."

Luffy lifted up Krieg by the throat.

"Have you ever heard of the Yonko? The Four Emperors? Big Mom? Whitebeard? Kaidou? Red Haired Shanks? Any of them? Are you saying you could stand up to people who could probably destroy this world if they really just wanted to end it all? Your cockiness was your downfall Krieg. You were just a big fish in a small pond. As soon as you entered a larger body of water, you had a taste of what the rest of the world was like and rather than working your way back up, you retreated and didn't learn a darned thing."

Luffy looked at Krieg with disgust before flinging him outside. Krieg picked himself up and dusted himself off before reentering the restaurant.

"I demand enough food to feed the rest of the remnants of my crew!"

Luffy grew angry hearing this.

"You're an idiot if you think they'll-"

Zeff came out of the kitchen with several packs of meals.

"No one should die hungry," is all Zeff said.

Krieg and Gin left with the food. Luffy did hear Gin comment on how he thought they wouldn't hurt anyone here. That they'd feed the rest of the crew and leave. Luffy felt a bit bad for Gin hearing this. He was stuck with a leader who would lie constantly in order to get his way. Lie to his own men. Something that was unacceptable if they truly trusted their crewmates.

Once Krieg came back, he was with his whole crew this time. War broke out between Luffy and Krieg, but the tides of the battle did not go in Krieg's favor. Not at all. Many members of his crew were already getting killed left and right by people he thought were originally all fodder. Even some of his strongest were getting knocked down. This shouldn't have been happening. This should have been an easy victory over everyone.

This weird guy with the straw hat was the worst of them all though. He only lifted up one finger the whole time while fighting. As if he was too good to fight him seriously. None of his attacks seemed to have any effect on him and it really irked him seeing this. He thought for sure his attacks would be what shut this brat up, but he stayed deathly calm the whole time.

"What games are you playing boy? Are you trying to toy with me? The almighty Krieg?!"

"You're so annoying."

His eyes widened as he found him all of a sudden right next to him before feeling an immense pain in his stomach. It caused him to puke.

"Ew. Almost made me lose my appetite," Luffy stated.

Luffy grabbed Krieg by the hair and swung him high into the sky.

"Kaze Kaze blade!"

Luffy slashed his hand across the air. Several disk-like projectiles suddenly appeared flying towards the falling Krieg. Each and every single one sliced at Krieg's body. DIfferent parts as he continued to fall. Blood came gushing down and you could hear him scream in pain. Pure terror filled Krieg's face as he was being cut down by seemingly invisible blades of wind. He didn't know what was going on to be honest. He was supposed to be the strongest. He was Don Krieg! Foul Play Don Krieg! Pirate Fleet Admiral! The best of the best! How could someone like that child best him?

Krieg tried to pull a fast one before he bled out. He suddenly sent out a toxic gas from his suit before collapsing on the floor.

"Ha! Take that you fool! If I die, the whole lot of you are dying with me!"

Luffy laughed at this pathetic attempt. He suddenly started manipulating the wind around the area gathering the toxic gas into a cubical form. He held it in his hand, smirking. Luffy looked back down at Krieg before kicking his form into the sea.

"This cube might be useful in the future," Luffy muttered.

He looked over to see Zoro staring down Mihawk. Then, he realized something.

"Zoro, don't you dare," he whispered.

Zoro jumped over to where Mihawk was and tried to slash at him with one of his swords. Mihawk easily blocked it though with a small dagger that he revealed to be hidden inside his crucifix pendant. Zoro tried multiple times using all three of his swords eventually, but failed to get past the dagger. He was relentless though.

"I've met swordsmen like you. They overestimate themselves thinking of themselves as the strongest of all and figure that they can defeat me in order to gain the title of World's Strongest Swordsman. They fight and realize their efforts are fruitless."

Zoro gritted his teeth.

"I already know!" He yelled. "I know I'm weak compared to the rest of the swordsmen out there. Especially you, but I wanted to at least know how big the gap is. I couldn't let this opportunity pass me or else I could never forgive myself."

Mihawk raised an eyebrow hearing this.

"That's new. What's your name?"

"Roronoa Zoro."

"Well Zoro. Mind telling me your reason for wanting to become the next World's Strongest Swordsman?"

"Simply put, I made a promise to someone and I'm not the type to break promises either! So don't shame me by not giving me your best!"

Mihawk took note of this, smiling a little bit. He hadn't seen this sort of conviction from a swordsman in a long time. He chuckled a little.

"Very well Zoro. I'll answer your requests."

Mihawk grabbed the giant sword he had strapped to his back releasing it from his sheath.

"Come at me Zoro!" He yelled.

Zoro charged at Mihawk one last time putting everything into this last attack. Despite all of his effort though, he only managed to make a small cut on Mihawk's cheek. Unremarkable in most people's eyes, but this was something that surprised Mihawk. Someone from the East Blue was able to actually wound him slightly. He still ended up breaking two of Zoro's katanas though in return. Zoro was shocked by the destruction of his swords, but he smirked seeing the small cut on Mihawk's cheek.

"Looks like I managed to get a hit on you finally."

Mihawk nodded at Zoro's remark, but he became even more surprised when Zoro stretched out both of his arms leaving his body wide open to be attacked. He was confused. What was this kid doing?

"Scars on a swordsman's back is his greatest shame," Zoro spoke.

Mihawk agreed with this statement before slashing Zoro diagonally. He wanted this kid to live. See how strong he could become. This attack of his would be a test though. If he survived, it meant that he truly had potential. If not, well he got his hopes up for nothing. Especially since he used a rather shallow slash. Luffy looked on in concern. He was about to intervene but Johnny and Yosaku rushed over to care for Zoro's injuries, relieving Luffy a bit. He turned to Mihawk with a glare.

"Mihawk!" He yelled.

Mihawk looked over to Luffy with an intrigued look in his eyes.

"How dare you hurt my First Mate like that!"

Mihawk ignored Luffy's comment though.

"Tell me boy. That hat of yours. Where did you get it from?"

"...A friend of mine." He answered.

"May that friend be the one known as Red Haired Shanks, perhaps?"

Luffy didn't answer, but his silence was all Mihawk needed in order to confirm his thoughts.

"I have one more question for you boy. What is your goal?"

Luffy forced himself to stay put as he knew Mihawk was several leagues ahead of him in strength. His logia defenses really didn't mean anything to someone like him. It was best to play the situation safe.

"It's not just one goal I have here. I have two."

Mihawk raised an eyebrow at this.

"My goals are to become Pirate King...and to bring down the World Government."

"Oh? Those are quite some big goals for someone as young as you. Those are even harder goals than to become the Strongest Swordsman. You have to go about challenging the Yonko and build up enough of an influence in order to even attempt such a feat like taking down the World Government."

Luffy smiles at hearing this. It was...an unsettling smile as everyone could feel the difference in the wind and tension. The tension rose up to an even further scale and the seas started to move violently.

"Well Mihawk. If it was going to be easy, someone would've accomplished it already. I have power by myself already, but I'll be gathering more strength as time goes by. A king needs a kingdom. Soldiers willing to fight for you, but in order to bring down a government, they're going to need more than just that. Different uses for all of your people and I'll be building that up."

Mihawk noticed it was getting harder for him to breathe. It was as if the air was getting thinner. Too thin actually. No. He didn't have any oxygen at all. He couldn't breathe! He got down on his knees while grabbing his throat, but he looked back at Luffy. Luffy was glaring down at him with anger in his eyes while holding that devilish smile of his.

Mihawk grabbed his significantly larger sword and made an air strike at Luffy, but the boy dodged it. It distracted him though and that's all that mattered because Luffy couldn't keep limiting the air around him if he didn't have enough focus. Mihawk could breathe again. He gasped for air.

"Luffy! I know what you're trying to do!" Zoro yelled. "But remember what I said back when you first recruited me. Don't get in the way of my goal Luffy! Don't fight Mihawk. Leave him to me as my end goal and I promise you that I'll never lose again! You got that Luffy!"

Luffy widened his eyes at this and stopped in place. He gave his full attention to Zoro and visibly relaxed.

"I'll hold you to your word Zoro. I wouldn't accept anything less from you." He smiled genuinely.

Mihawk stared at Luffy for a couple seconds before moving back to his ship. If you could even call it that. He thought back to the last time he was with Shanks. He mentioned how he made a bet on the new generation and this kid. Luffy. He had a terrifying ability to say the least. It wasn't the devil fruit powers though. Sure, it was up there when it came onto powerful devil fruits, but that meant nothing in the long run. If that's all the boy had, he'd just be another cocky devil fruit user who would be in for a rude awakening when entering the New World, but Luffy was different. He could tell. His aura was something different. The ambitious nature of this boy was practically oozing off of him. Such an aura usually ended up causing many to either admire or despise such a person. He could gather a whole army by such a strong aura alone.

That was a terrifying ability to have. The World Government saw him as even more of a threat because of that. He was already a threat without it. He smirked. If the World Government wasn't careful, this boy could probably topple them.

Luffy watched as all of Don Krieg's forces were successfully being taken down. Most of his crewmates, he noticed, were pretty vicious in their fighting. They made sure that most of the time none of the deceased Krieg's forces could have an opening to exploit. They wouldn't have the time to really even counterattack. At best, they were able to block some of the attacks coming at them.

It was then that he felt a buzzing feeling in his pocket. He found it to be his transponder snail. He had a feeling who it was though. Sure enough, he was correct. It was Usopp, but it wasn't in the way he expected.

"HELP ME! HELP US! ENEMY PIRATES ARE HERE!" Usopp screamed.

The call ended after a little bit more of communication and Luffy was now back into concerned mode. Yasopp always mentioned his son when he was around him and when he finally met the fellow teen, he had no interest in being part of his crew. Fine. But now. Now another pirate crew seemed to appear on his island and, knowing pirates, there was going to be murder and pillaging. He liked the boy. He genuinely seemed like a nice person for the little time they spent with each other, but now there was a possibility he may die alongside most of his home. Not just that, but he would be doing the East Blue a favor by helping stop the other pirates. He couldn't imagine what would happen if news spread to Yasopp about his son's death. As soon as he found out who the culprits were, he'd probably rampage all throughout the East Blue until he found them.

"Zoro, I want you to rest for now until you are properly treated. Usopp's in serious trouble right now so I'm going to run and save him."

"Ha! Alright captain, but you better make it in time."

"I will."

* * *

Usopp pulled out a box from underneath his bed in the middle of the night. What was inside, he never used before. His father had a note in there telling him to only use them when the time was right. He couldn't find any other proper time than now. He opened up the box to reveal two flintlocks. They were given to him by his father. It was even more precious to him since that was the last time he'd ever seen his father.

He grabbed the two guns from the box and tried practicing with them a little. He had to get used to the recoil of the guns rather quickly if he was going to be fighting an army of pirates. Usopp ended up staying up all night trying to get a handle on the guns. Once the morning came, he could hear the screams of pirates falling into his traps.

Oil and fire burned those who were the first to charge in. Others were getting tied up by rope or very incredibly sticky syrup. Multiple traps were laid out in order to at least subdue these pirates. They weren't the good ones like his father or the ones he'd met earlier. They were the real deal. Ones who were going to kill you without a second thought and had no heart.

He always had a bad feeling about Klahadore, but for him to be a pirate? How ironic was that?

Usopp was still terrified though. Every moment he was fearing for his life. His heart raced even further when some got past his attacks and lunged at him. He threw rocks at them which stunned them for enough time in order for Usopp to make it farther away from them.

He was breathing heavily. He felt like he peed himself here as well.

He took a minute to steady his breathing. Get a grip on himself. Assess the situation better. He realized something. Kuro wasn't with the rest of the pirates back there. Oh no. Oh no. No. No. No. NO!

Usopp raced to Kaya's house and barged in only to see Merry already bleeding out. He rushed over to him quickly and cradled him in his arms.

"W-Who did this to you?"

Merry's eyes were dull. Life was fading away from them quickly. Merry managed to grab onto Usopp's clothes though pulling him close enough to hear his words. He managed to utter out a couple words, but they weren't loud at all. It was barely above a whisper at best.

"K-K-Klahadore. He's not who he says he is."

Usopp knew what he meant when he heard those words. He gritted his teeth. Of course. It was Kuro. He left Merry for dead and who knew what else he was going to do? Kuro had a pirate crew that was too large for him to really handle on his own. He needed help. For a second, he was thinking of the kids, but he immediately cancelled out that idea. He didn't want them involved here.

Thinking of the kids though, that did bring up someone else in mind. They gave him that guy's number from back then. The one with the mask. He was most likely strong. He saw his bounty poster with half of his mask breaking off. An intimidating picture to say the least and the title he was given. 'Breath of Akuma': Strawhat Luffy. Even the bounty was quite amazing.

He couldn't ponder on it for too long though. He saw pirates approaching his village. His home. He had to do something fast.

He searched throughout the house and found a transponder snail. He kept the number in his pocket just in case. He only prayed that Luffy would answer though. He read about his latest actions defeating Arlong, but he didn't know where he was now. He could be busy fighting or someth-

"Hello?"

He answered! Usopp silently cheered until he saw fire being set to his village. Oh no.

"HELP ME! HELP US! ENEMY PIRATES ARE HERE!" He screamed into the transponder.

The other side of the line was silent for a second. His heart was beginning to sink for a second. Maybe he had his hopes up way too high here. Maybe this was a battle he was going to have to face alo-

"I'm on my way. Hold down the fort though until I come."

"A-Alright. I will."

He was sobbing. He didn't know how long it would take for Luffy to arrive, but he only hoped it would be soon. He felt like he was over his head here. He felt like this was karma for all the times he would lie about pirates coming, but for once, pirates were coming and nobody believed him. They were sick of his lies and now look at what was going to happen if he didn't take action.

* * *

"Sanji! Nojiko! You two are coming with me!"

"Wha-? Why me?" Sanji sputtered.

"Because I'm your captain and I said so or did you forget that you're the newest recruit?"

Sanji grumbled remembering that dirty trick Luffy used earlier in order to get him to join, but it wasn't so bad he supposed. After all, he was going to be accompanied by a beautiful woman as well.

"Nojiko, you're quite quick on your feet and have some surprising strength so you'll definitely be useful in this next fight. That and you're one of the least injured ones here hence why I'll be taking you with me. Sanji, you have a unique fighting style as well which will help subduing our next set of foes. Let's go!" Luffy explained and commanded.

He morphed his arms into gigantic wind arms and carried the two in his currents before also turning himself into wind and shooting off.

A/N: So, a couple things. 1. What should Nojiko's weapon be? I found out recently that Oda originally wanted to have Nami wield a giant axe, but he scrapped that idea and used it on a different character. Now I'm wondering what weapon I should give Nojiko. These are the options. Giant axe. Spear. Bisento. 2. Usopp will still have his slingshots, but he will use them alongside his guns. Since he's upgraded his slingshot before, how would you imagine him upgrading his gun arsenal? 3. How would you imagine the jolly roger to look like in this story?


End file.
